[etni] Merit Pay
- From: "David R. Herz" <drh16@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 18 Feb 2010 02:04:55 +0200
This would be an unmitigated disaster, and is as bad in theory as it would
be in practice. Merit pay will always be attached to some measure, which
will always be established by someone outside the classroom, which will
increase stress levels and orient teaching in various unwanted directions.
What most people want of an educational system are things that are very
difficult to measure. Let's take active engagement and ownership of the
material - let's take Laurie Orenstein and poetry - as an example. As Ms.
Widerker related, her child engaged in spontaneous poetry writing. Others
might read more. Others might just engage with what they read differently
or more actively. Do any of you think that "active engagement and ownership
of the material" would be a basis for merit pay? What will be a basis are
things than are easy to measure, think vocabularies and certain grammatical
structures, which students can master without taking the context - the
actual ability to powerfully use a language - into account. As a result,
teachers will turn their attention from what really matters to those things
that are rewarded, the irony being that if they do engage in what I say
really matters, those skills that are rewarded will advance at a much
greater pace, but the pressure will be on spending time drilling on the
things that will be tested.
What is needed is a fair competitive compensation package so that there are
always people willing to take on teaching as a profession, a solid structure
for support and improvement, and a fair manner to remove teachers who are
not working out.
Yours truly,
David R. Herz
drherz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
www.educatingisrael.com
Bet Rimon
052-579-1859
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