The Race For K 12 Public Education Reform

It is essential to encourage school districts to collaborate with teachers and their unions when developing or implementing pay for performance programs. This can be achieved by incorporating these pay systems into sustainable human resource management strategies to improve teacher effectiveness. Compensating teachers via performance based system should be tied to the performance of the preK-12 students and not on the age, seniority or degree of the teacher. Another key aspect is to strengthen professional development of the preK-12 teachers through mentoring opportunities and evaluation of teachers. This will ensure that more highly qualified teachers are hired and retained at the various prek-12 school in U.S. The state laws that do not align educator performance based on student outcomes and compensation policies should be

Many people wonder if teachers should or should not get paid more than they do. A lot of people believe that teachers should get paid more, but there are some that do not. Parents that want their kids to have a good education want teachers to get paid more. For example, P.V Derkachev said, “… teacher pay influences the quality of education.” (Derkachev 574). Teachers that get payed more would be more likely to perform better at their job and not mind the extra time that they have to do stuff outside of work to get everything done. Matt Barnum said, “Higher salaries --- even small bonuses ---- can and do keep some teachers in the classroom, and likely improve outcomes for their students.” (Barnum). The student is going to get taught better if teachers get paid more because the teacher will want to teach at the best of her ability which will help the student.

Finally, this journal has enlightened me and my thought process of generalizations pertaining to urban schools: “When we think of low poverty schools the first thing that comes to mind are inner urban schools. Again, this process is considered a stereotype because many urban schools perform well and meet required standards. Unfortunately, there are urban schools across the nation who has a high demand for teachers and resources. Teacher.com is a comprehensive resource for information. It is in partnership with California State University-Rossier online. It provides state specific information on how to become a teacher, areas that are in demand of teachers, teacher pay in those areas, teaching credentials, teacher certification tests, alternative teacher certification and more. Its objective is to provide all information to become a teacher anywhere in which you reside. Sadly the schools that have the highest demand for teachers are the

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.

     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

In chapter 5, Reforming America’s Schools, I learned many things that affect me as an educator. An important fact that interests me was that there are four goals that schools should follow. The first one is academic, including a broad array of knowledge and intellectual skills. The second one is vocational, aimed at readiness for the world of work and economic responsibilities. The third one is social and civic, including skills and behavior for participating in a complex democratic society. The fourth one is personal, including the development of individual talent and self-expression. This will affect me as an educator so that I can follow and do my best to complete these goals. Now I am aware of what should be done in a classroom.

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

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

The issue of teacher shortage today is continuing to grow. The effects of the achievement gap are reaching the teachers, not just the students: “...good administrators and teachers, who are doing their best under difficult circumstances, will be driven out of the profession…,” (Boyd-Zaharias 41). The achievement gap is part of the reason teachers feel they are underpaid, which happens to be one of the leading cause in teacher shortage considering, “Teachers were paid two percent less [than comparable workers] in 1994, but by 2015 the wage penalty rose to 17 percent,” (Long). Being a teacher requires passion in order to stay in the field, especially if the money in teaching is decreasing. Money is an important aspect for people when it comes to their careers, therefore, fewer people want to become teachers. This lack of teachers and the lack of college students studying to become a teacher leads to unqualified teachers and larger classroom sizes (Ostroff). Both of these causes are eventually affecting students’ learning environments. I chose this issue in education for my project because I have personally felt these effects, and I know others who have as well. As a future educator, I want to see better wages and better benefits, but this can only happen with qualified, passionate teachers. I plan on being one of them, and I plan on sparking a change. I am a future educator fighting to end teacher shortage.

Pros: Those who support teacher merit pay argue that performance-based pay for teachers would provide incentives so that the most talented scholars are recruited, the best teachers are rewarded for exceptional work, and the poorest rated teachers would hopefully leave the profession. On average, students in countries with performance-related pay score 24.8 percent of a standard deviation higher on the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) math test (Woessmann, 2011). When asked most people could give examples of past classroom experiences with exceptional teachers and alternatively examples of horrid situations with teachers that obviously hated their jobs. Public support for teacher merit pay has gained significant ground the past few years and now outdistances opposition by a 2:1 margin (Buck, 2011). Nationally teacher merit pay is promoted by providing grants through the federal Teacher Incentive Fund to school districts that promise to develop merit pay programs for raising student achievement and for taking position in high –need schools (Buck, 2011). We reward excellence and superior performance in many other walks of life, including the world of sports, business, and the medical and legal professions so why not extend this concept to the

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.

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

Pay-for-performance has become acceptable to many organizations; however, it remains a hard sell in public school systems where teachers need to be paid based on the student’s test scores. For instance, in Minnesota, 60% of all pay increases are anchored in performance rather than the automatic rise in seniority. Similarly, Denver designed an incentive program that awards teachers with bonuses for excellent student performances and for receiving national teaching certificates. The idea of ensuring that more effective teachers are paid more than less effective teachers has been received ceremoniously in some states while the concept continues to generate controversies in other states. For instance, in Cincinnati, teachers

Addressing this societal issue of the low pay of teachers has been recognized ever since this act. The NCLB act requires by law that all children must have equal opportunities to attend school and get an education. It also requires students to go to school up until a certain age, depending on the state (Klein). The NCLB act goes deeper into requirements in order to assure the education of children. Ergo, it is the law for every child to get an education. If this is the main law requirement for children and families, then how is it that something so important is to have such little pay. A student’s growth and education, in the primary years especially, is based upon the teacher’s abilities to develop children’s brains. Is a role so important in society getting the reward deserved? The longer teachers stay the more successful the quality of education becomes. However it is difficult when recognition and pay is so low. There is no attraction or incentive to continue to pursue educators’ passions for teaching. Because of this there is seen to be an association with the students’ achievements as well. The quality of a teacher correlates with the success of a student, which is overall based upon a teacher’s pay.

Glazerman et al, (2011) argue that the single salary system was created to address equity issues and has spread over the globe, where teachers regularly get paid based on qualification and experience as opposed to the measure of teacher effectiveness and their students results. (Glazerman et al, 2011;