Underperformers
With several former (including myself) and current teachers floating around this space, I'd be interested to hear reactions to this paragraph from Mickey Kaus' blog:
Is "merit pay" for good teachers nearly as important as making it easier to get rid of mediocre teachers? (You want to get hissed, tell that to the NEA.) In the successful organizations I've worked for, the positive incentives (in the form of unequal pay) weren't nearly as powerful as disincentives (in the form of fear that you might get fired if you didn't do your part). For one thing, negative incentives are highly compatible with teamwork. They get the whole organization going, including people who'll never be hot enough to get performance bonuses. They don't breed envy and backstabbing.
What can we do to help instill a sense of ownership and accountability in underperforming teachers? Or should we just make it easier to get rid of them? Or should we try to motivate them in other ways? Or is that not a major part of the problem?
Technorati Tags: 
How do you decide what makes
How do you decide what makes a good or bad teacher? If we start threatening to fire 'bad' teachers for poor performances in the classroom, can we also fire 'bad' administrators for their roles when they won't go to year round school or use the best curriculums available? What about 'bad' parents who don't make educational success a priority at home? Is the problem that teachers are 'bad' at their jobs because they aren't inspired to be better? Or does it have more to do with being a thankless job with low pay that often attracts people who can't think of anything else to do as a career rather than bringing in the best and the brightest?
Fire bad teachers, it's a no-brainer
I think I've blogged here on this topic before. Bad teachers must go. However, I don't think that precludes incentive/bonus pay. Schools of the 21st century should do both.
However, like the Guest point out, it is sometimes difficult to figure out who to demonstrate that a teacher is bad at their job. It is sort like "obscenity." It is hard to define, but you know it when you see it.
Fire the bad ones
The very idea of tenure has always mystified me. I don't understand why we protect those who have managed a very few years in the system with a cloak of invulnerability. I recall Expat's blog on this topic, and I remember thinking then that about 85% of the teachers at my school are at least competent, and the majority of those are truly good (and many great) teachers. That remaining 15%, however...well, it is simply a travesty that we allow them a place in front of a classroom.
As someone who believes in capitalism and free markets, I want to believe that merit pay can work as well, but I have yet to hear of a system that would be feasible and could be accurately applied in our unequal public schools.
Post new comment