UPDATE - Monday, August 17, 2009 - The New York Times has an informative article dealing with the Obama Administration's pressures on states to integrate TESTING with teacher evaluations. I encourage YOU to read it to follow this issue. URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/17/educat.... Here we go... Mr. E.

Again my question is, how will merit pay for teachers benefit students? So far I have not really seen any valid answers.

Teaching students there is only one right answer, as measured by a standardized test, really doesn't teach them anything.

TheCourtJester – It has nothing to do with “spouting off” as you have so eloquently put it. It has to do with having experienced those teachers (past and present) that do not have a clue how to communicate the material. I know firsthand how experiencing a bad teacher at a young age shapes a child’s mind. To think that the “environment” that a teacher creates in the classroom does not play a HUGE part in learning is naïve and equally as destructive.

More union bashing here too. I don't know much about the JEA, but they are to represent all teachers. They should be able to see that any merit base policies are fair to all. Are unions perfect? No. Are employers perfect? No. Hopefully the teachers have voted their representation based on who understands what are the special issues at their school. There is a place for unions and unions can work but the membership must always voice their concerns. Writing a comment in the Gazette but not complaining to their union will do no good. If you belong to the union, be heard. Go to meetings.If you do not want to take the time, you get what you get. Unions are as strong or as weak as their membership.

Testing is not the best way to determine a teachers value. There are many differences in students to make it difficult to label who is a good teacher and who is not. What makes a good elementary teacher does not make a good high school teacher. Some students test well. Others do not. Is a teacher who manages to motivate a student to try harder a poor teacher? Does the teacher who frequently reminds a student who knows the material to turn in work a poor teacher? Does the teacher who returns phone calls or emails to parents promptly a poor teacher? Yes, tests are a measurement tool, but I say the little things some teachers do count as much or more.

good idea. i call dibs on the AP class in a well funded low crime school district full of white kids. and you get, uh, some speds out of milwaukee. ready set teach

Justsome1here:
Good point, however, everything else being equal, environment plays a HUGE part in how well someone learns. To ignore that, is to be naive. You can't tell me that two kids, both of equal intelligence, with one that deals daily with a drunk, abusive parent, or any number of other socially disadvantageous situations will learn the same as the same equally intelligent kid who gets all the support they need at home. How do you measure that? I am happy for you that you most likely grew up in the latter, because you obviously haven't experienced the former. In all likelihood you wouldn't be spouting off otherwise.

Although I agree that WEAC has its own agenda, and that unions really only protect inadequate teachers, I do not believe that merit pay is in the best interest of our educational system. In states that link test scores to teacher pay, one could say that a balanced education is sacrificed in the name of "teaching to the test." Teachers cannot teach each student with a prescribed formula that in the end creates great test scores. That's the reality of teaching. Good teachers don't teach to the test, and never will. Good teachers teach students...and some students will never make yearly adequate progress. Students are not inanimate objects. I find it almost appalling to think that anyone who has children would think that if we pay their teachers more because they do well on a test, that this would mean they are getting a better education.

NVgrf - I disagree. If you have a teacher who does not have a grasp on how to communicate the material in a way that kids understand, it does not matter what environment those kids were raised in.

If we issue merit pay based upon test scores, the teachers in Whitefish Bay will do very well and those in the inner city of Milwaukee will not. And those results will usually not be based upon the abilities of the respective teachers. Any teacher who has a grasp on reality will tell you the same thing. The environment that kids are raised in is the primary determiner of their academic success, not the teacher in front of the classroom.

I don't know why this is even a question. Everyone else who holds a job is evaluated on how they do , if they don't meet certain criteria there is no raise. Teachers should and can not be any different.

How much of the 4 billion dollars is it going to cost to come up with a system for evaluation?

Exactly how would merit pay benefit anyone, especially the students? Better test scores? How does a better test score benefit a child?

Are they taught to think, wonder, question, create, investigate, problem-solve? NO. They are taught that there is only one right answer to every question. Wow, that will really help this country.

REPEAL NCLB& REPLACE ARNE DUNCAN!
WAKE UP America and quit listening to the rhetoric about merit pay and standardized testing.

Find out how much testing companies stand to gain from all of this. Testing companies are lining the pockets of legislators!

John almost hit the nail on the head. But let's take this further. Teachers should REJECT and DECERTIFY JEA/WEAC and take back their profession for themselves. Don't you think you would be better off? Think about it. Do you really get value for your hard-earned dues, or could the teachers work together and more efficiently without the boot of a mandatory union shop on the backs of their necks? Make no mistake-- WEAC is in it only for itself and to justify its existence (and paychecks, and benefits, etc.) It's time for big, bold, and brave thinking. It can be done if you put your collective minds and will to it.

Merit-based pay will work if administrators (and other well-meaning teachers) would get out of the way, so to speak, and encourage more testing, not less. If students were tested annually and the teachers are given the goals each year and allowed to design their own curriculum to meet those goals based on the children they have before them that year, the children would learn and the teachers would appreciate the recognition of their hard work. Currently, many public schools (and some private schools) love to interfere with academic freedom and want to tell teachers how to teach...which would be fine if each child learned the same. What results? Students are "taught the test" and still fail to achieve satisfactory results. Instead, education should be a sonnet: the "testing" should provide the rhythm and meter and the individual teacher should compose the words, taking into account the students in his or her class THIS year (and the test results he or she will already have from last year's test). A good standardized test can be a tool to help teachers design lessons to meet each child's needs...not a punishment or a crutch. NCLB wasn't the PROBLEM, it was an invitation to do better...it was school districts who refused to take up the challenge and improve TEACHING by allowing teachers to teach (and inviting those who can't teach to exit the profession). Instead of telling teachers WHAT to teach, they should be focusing on helping teachers learn how to individualize instruction better while still meeting common end-goals. Merit pay is a way to achieve this goal.

I think we need to keep doing education like we are: organizing employees like meatpackers and having pay based on length of service and not ability to teach. That's a recipe that has enabled our schools to spend more per pupil than any other industrialised country and get the absolute least out of it.

Just a question...if only 4th, 8th and 10th graders get WKCE tested, then how will the teachers of other grades get "merit pay." And if the WKCE's are actually taken in the fall, then should the results fall back on the 3rd, 7th and 9th grade teachers? Then what about teachers that dont have a test to teach to...example Art, Music, Tech Ed. Merit pay is not a horrible idea, just one with more questions than answers, especially with how to handle WCKE scores.

http://www.fastcompany.com/node/1140924/...
Why Incentives Are Irresistible, Effective, and Likely to Backfire

http://www.psych.rochester.edu/SDT/docum...

The above link is to a research paper: Undermining quality teaching and
learning
A self-determination theory perspective on
high-stakes testing

Teachers wake up from your silence and speak out!
Repeal No Child Left Behind!

It all depends on the test. As the parent of a child in the "no child left behind" era, I know firsthand of the obscene and wasteful efforts to "teach the test". A real test would be conducted more like a fire drill: Independent testers would arrive unannounced at a school to interrupt all planned activities with a brief, impromptu exam. That could actually test something of value: knowledge.