Increase Student Achievement And Increase Teacher Accountability Essay

One of the main issues with merit pay for teachers is found in the manner in which it is measured. Most of the new performances pay laws and union contracts measure “effectiveness,” at least in part, by looking at the students’ test scores from one year to the next. One test score cannot paint a full picture of a student's accomplishment. Teachers unions have historically opposed merit pay, arguing that test scores are not an accurate measure of student achievement (Turner, 2010, para 15). Most teachers will report that a test will only show part of the picture. Standardized tests do not reflect life lessons, effective citizen traits, or character building traits that were taught that year. All of these traits thrive in an effective teacher’s curriculum.

The No Child Left Behind act emerged as a result of a massive increase in the costs of schools, while failing to show an improvement in their students performances. (Paterson 32) Since these standardized test have been in effect teachers have been judged off them. The problem is that

While teachers are getting paid amounts from 35,000 to 90,000 a year. The school system is not making an effort to help them out But, they might be some progress. Teachers are not getting paid as much as they should. Which affects the quality of the teachers hired to teach. But schools to make an effort to change and help students and care for them. America’s educational system has both weaknesses and strengths that are greatly impacting the education students’ are receiving.

In 2013, the average annual salary of a teacher in the United States was 56,383 dollars. This is for all grades before college. it varies from an average of 75,279 dollars in New York, to an average of 39,580 in South Dakota (How Much Teachers Get Paid — State by State). That is a huge difference in pay for the exact same job. If the test results of students were equal to the teacher’s pay, we would have a much more concrete way of paying the teachers. If the state’s economy is struggling nowadays, they don’t have the money to pay the teachers what they deserve, but in this new way, they will be required to give the teachers their hard earned money. In every other job in the United States, you get paid based on your performance. With teachers, the principal does not have enough time to evaluate every teacher and pay them based on how well they did. If the teachers were paid based on the tests, there would finally be a way to evaluate how well they taught the students. The less effective teachers will be pushed out of the system, while the strong ones

A. Current Issues: Teacher Merit Pay: States were asked by the U.S. Department of Education in their 2010 application for Race to the Top monies to include proposals for implementing teacher merit pay based on classroom performance (Woessmann, 2011). Merit pay or performance-based pay is a bonus for teachers whose students show above average growth over a set period of time measured by many different standards that are picked by local and/or state districts. The hope is that teacher merit pay would have an immediate impact on student achievement. Teacher merit pay stirs an emotional response from teachers, politicians, and parents. President Barack Obama has called for a national effort to improve student achievement in the classroom and often

This educational gap becomes obvious when standardized testing is performed. Standardized tests are issued vigorously in the United States, for test results are used to compare students, teachers, and schools (“Standardized Test” par. 1). These isolated measurements of student ability are picked apart by government officials to praise some schools and to chastise others. Scores are also used to designate which teachers receive merit pay; only teachers with the best scores are awarded the extra stipend. Many problems arise from this form of salary distribution. Merit pay is unfair for those who teach struggling students whose scores will not qualify their teachers (Ramirez par. 22). The chance to earn extra money causes conflict and distracts from the goal to educate (par. 30). Teachers are only human, and money is an excellent motivator. In this case, however, money motivates teachers to work against one another to earn higher wages. A system based on competition, disparity, and comparisons cannot properly educate the majority, which should be the goal in a large, diverse country such as the United States.

teachers’ pay off of student achievement testing. They were also worried about losing jobs as

Even teachers’ pay in some states is linked to performance of their students. According to the Washington Post, the state of Florida instituted a policy that individual teacher’s raises and performance starting in 2007 will be tied directly to student’s scores on standardized tests. This pay for performance concept has generally been accepted by the new Obama administration and may make its way into more common usage across the United States.

Implementation of merit pay can create a negative rivalry among teachers and districts. Because of decreases in test scores, some schools have begun to offer merit pay as a way to refocus teachers on the achievement of their students, with the hope of increasing the effectiveness of teachers (Ciruczak A.11). The increase of performance pay became a high priority for the United States Department of Education, especially after the Obama Administration allotted funds for a campaign called Race to the Top, which distributed around $4.3 billion dollars to schools throughout the country (Rosales). After the implementation of this program, feedback came pouring in. According to Kristen Dechert, Mississippi State Research and Curriculum Unit

In the early 1980s, when A Nation at Risk warned citizens with the prospect of "a rising tide of mediocrity" threatening to overwhelm U.S. schools, President Reagan reestablished trials with performance-based pay, with equally negative effects. Some schools experimented through the late 1980s with inducement programs based on merit, administration by aims, and career-ladder or differentiated staffing tactics. Few such trials had run smoothly for long. Another set of experiments emerged in the 1990s, wherein most were also based on career ladders, teacher expertise and knowledge, or differentiated

Callahan used the Crescendo Charter School in Los Angeles to illustrate the pressures that administrators and teachers often face regarding school improvement ratings and student test scores. After reading the article, I was shocked and appalled at the actions of the executive administrator and founder John Allen and those who carried out his orders. On the other hand, I felt a glimmer of hope when I read some of the teachers reported the unethical behaviors and decisions of their colleagues. As an educator, I know the orders and expectations from administrators can be overwhelming and debilitating. In the past, I have seen colleagues get harassed or borderline bullied because of students’ performance on practice test. Unfortunately, teachers are being judge, labeled and terminated as a result of student performance. According to USA Today (2010), Michelle Rhee, Former Chancellor of DCPS terminated 241 teachers deemed ineffective and deemed

It does not allow bargaining and does not focus on attract top teachers. There are three different types of pay in a school. There are teachers, the administration section and then the executives. Teacher get paid based on the area of expertise and if they accept to work for an area of poverty which is a school that gets aid from the government therefore more funds. Florida State has added an incentive for teachers who have more 12th graders graduate, this incentive is about $10,000. Although the compensation philosophy for teacher is not bad, it could be altered. “One certain area compensates their teachers starting at $39,000. “Teachers are compensated for 10 months out of the year not to mention that every time the students are out of school so are the teachers. They also argue that the current system does little to motivate and reward effective teaching” (Golhaber, DeArmond, & Deburgomaster, 2011, pg.

This paper will examine the history of pay for performance in education, the research on incentives and the pros and cons of using incentives. It will also explain how the accountability movement in education has resulted in increased pressure on HR personnel to incentivize teachers.

Supply and Demand has a major effect on our economy. It effects teacher’s salaries more than people think. Salaries are determined by the market forces of supply and demand. Today, schools try to focus on obtaining teachers who have a strong impact on student’s learning abilities. Everyone assumes that teachers are just one group that has the same subject specialties, years of experience, and the same education credentials. People also assume that all teachers are paid the same salary and that everyone agrees how to identify an effective teacher. These assumptions are unrealistic but helpful in explaining further the concepts of

With an increase in pay, an increase quality can be asked. In “Our Schools Must Do Better” by Bob Herbert, it is suggested that identifying the good teachers and weeding out the poor can be done with careful asserting on-the-job performances instead of focusing on credentials (Herbert 90). While credentials are important, they are not the end all be all for determining excellence of the teacher and other methods of screening should be taken into consideration before tenure is granted.