Performance-Based Compensation Programs for Teachers

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.

Samuel Finley Breese Morse was an American painter and an inventor. After becoming a well known portrait painter, in his middle age he contributed to the invention of a single wire telegraph system. He was a co-developer of the Morse code and helped to develop a commercial use of telegraphy. Samuel Morse was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, being the first child of pastor Jedidiah Morse who was a geographer and Elisabeth Ann Finley Morse. His father was a great preacher of the calvinist faith and strongly believed in education within a Federalist framework, alongside the instillation of Calvinist virtues, morals, and prayers for his first son.

When renegotiating the contracts with the Chicago Teachers Union, Rahm Emmanuel proposed an evaluation system performance rating scale for teachers’ raises (Belkin & Banchero, 2012) , he wants the right to lay off teacher in low-performing and under-enrolled schools, a longer school day by 90 minutes, a longer school year by 10 days, and raise the class number to 44 students. The evaluation system that he intends to implement would be a test given to the students in the beginning of the year and then again in the end tracking the progress of the students. Depending on these scores, it would constitute up to 40% of the teachers annual salary performance increase. Emmanuel wants the control to have the ability to lay-off and close schools in the

In today’s society one of the most important factors in selecting a career field is rate of pay. No matter whether the profession maybe, the dollar figure must be within a range that allows the employee to maintain a substantial lifestyle. The debate of teacher pay scales has raged on for years. Many argue that the current pay scale for teachers is a scale which rewards teachers merely for seniority. They argue that the current pay scale overlooks those educators which demonstrate exceptional performance. Teacher merit pay systems have been the most popular suggestions made to remedy the problems seen with the current pay scale. Although the current pay scale may not be completely effective, the idea of

     High school teachers’ average salary varies across the world. The United States is said to be one of the richest countries in the world, yet our teachers are being paid one of the lowest amounts. The Education Intelligence Agency, author of the article “Ohio Teacher Overcomes Union’s Tolerance” published an International Teacher Salary Report ranking the fifty states by “how much the average salary exceeded per capita personal income.” According to the Education Intelligence Agency Ohio’s percentage rate is only fifty- five point one percent. According to the Education Intelligence Agency the lowest state percentage is in South Dakota at twenty- three point six percent and the highest state percentage is

That means that out of 50 states there is only one state where teachers are paid worse. The feeling is that if the teachers are paid higher salaries more people might go into the field. Which means there would be more people to choose from that are actually qualified. Texas should be worried about the future this information predicts because if teachers aren’t paid equally there is a good chance they will move to states that have a competitive salary. To improve this reality Texas needs to give every resident the choice of school district. The guidelines should not be drawn by county but should be drawn by the willingness of the parent to travel and enforce a perfect attendance record for the student and also the hard work and effort put forth by the student to achieve high marks on their report card. By doing this I believe Texas’ Scholastics Assessment Test (SAT) scores which as of now rank 46 out of 50 will greatly improve. The student will strive to do better because they will know that the penalty of them doing poorly will result in transferring to a school closer to their

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.

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.

We would all like to think that schools are going to educate every child and expect them to bring every child to high standards of performance. Until fairly recently it was a permissible practice to reserve the most qualified teachers for those schools serving high-achieving, affluent, college-bound students who were believed to hold the greatest promise of success. Holding school districts accountable for improving the performance of all schools and all students might well require that resources, both human and financial, be allocated according to greatest need (ca.gov). This notion presents a challenge to public

Teachers have and will always have a big impact in everyone’s life and if not everyone, well, at least they did for me. They teach you everything you need to know about a subject and valuable life lessons, so why are they not paid sufficiently enough to make a decent living? Teachers salaries have always been low and I believe it is the time that changes. Being a lawyer, doctor, or engineer is great, but none of that would be possible without the insight of a teacher, I will inform you in this paper on why I believe there is a need for action. I will go over the background of teacher’s salaries, my ideas on what would be best for teachers not just in Texas, but nationwide, and pros and cons on the issues and ideas at hand.

The low pay for our educators is causing many negative effects. New York Times shows that the low income is causing sixty-two percent of teachers to have a second job outside of their teaching jobs. Just to have enough money to support their families and make ends meet. Most everyone decides to college to prevent having these struggles with money, and to avoid having to work multiple jobs, when they get older; however, not when it comes to living off of only a teacher’s income, the struggles to have enough money are interminable. This low pay is also causing most teachers to retire, and find new jobs. New York Times states, “every year 20 percent of teachers in urban districts quit. Nationwide, 46 percent of teachers quit before their fifth year. The turnover costs the

With beginning teachers usually earning entirely less than other college graduates, the profession is at loss of top-notch, quality people who tend to find jobs seeking more money. Almost 50 percent leave the profession within 5 years, lured by higher pay and prestige elsewhere in the booming U.S. economy (World, 1999, par. 7). Starting teachers average a $25,735 salary in the United States compared to an engineer earning $56,820 or a physical therapist earning $56,600 (Engineer, 2000, par.1). And what signal does it send out about the value of good teachers and a good education when a 45-year-old teacher with a master’s degree earns $45,000 a year and a 25-year-old out of law school often starts at $80,000, considering a six year education for a master’s degree and a seven year education for a law degree (Greenhouse, 2002, par. 4)? A teacher is also given no compensation for the long hours spent basically in overtime work. The teacher’s day does not end when they leave school because if lesson plans, grading, or planning is not completed, it will have to be finished on their own time. Accountants, paralegals, and engineers all are compensated and get paid overtime for work that does not get completed in a regular day or if they want to stay and

Public school teachers around the United States are not earning fair pay. When compared with other fields such as computer science, engineering, or the medical field, teachers earn among the lowest pay grade of all jobs. The thought of living on a low-income frightens many potentially amazing and well qualified students from pursuing a degree in education. Teacher pay is beginning to affect students education as well; therefore, causing children to not obtain the education they deserve. Teachers should be receiving more money because valuable teachers are walking away and superior education begins with quality teachers.

Lurking over our great country is a troubling issue that is plaguing the professional educational workforce. When compared worldwide, American teachers work the most hours, yet are paid in the lowest brackets when related to the top 32 nations (Teachers Pay). In addition, when you compare a teacher’s salary to other four year degree salaries, teachers are among the 5 lowest paid degrees (O’Shaughnessy). Not only are the salaries among the lowest in the American workforce, a typical teachers at home workload exceeds all other professional jobs by 20% (Current). Furthermore, teachers were only given a 2.3% salary raise in 2009. Yet the rate of inflation rose to 3.1% causing a loss in purchasing power and creating a hardship on the

Although I was already disgruntled with the lack of compensation for all the extra roles I filled at my school, now I had to reexamine my role in the classroom and link my performance to my students’ performance in a new evaluation system. My salary (not bonus) would be directly reflective of my students’ achievement (or regression) on one state mandated test. My mind filled with questions: What if my students had a bad test day? What if the continuous pressure from all