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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I don't think we should offer a higher starting salary. What we need is the potential to get a great salary if you excel. Almost EVERY type of job rewards based on merit. There is no reason why we can't do that with teachers. You have a formula...I'm pulling this out of the air, but

5 % test scores
10% teacher ratings
10% student ratings
10% principal observations and interactions with teacher
20% score on competency tests in your area of teaching. Are you truly smarter than a 4th grader? Great, take a test on all the areas 4th graders must master. If you are a math teacher, you take math tests.
10% senior colleague observations of your teacher
10% special education teachers rating you on how well you manage to create an inclusive environment
5% how often you volunteer to take on extra
5% former student and parent ratings of your teaching

and so forth....you get the point. Sure politics may affect some aspects, but it's not as black and white as some people make it out to be. You can find a way to merit pay and give bonuses.[/quote]

[b]No other profession is subject to this level of scrutiny. Maybe we should stop infantilizing teachers and trust them to do their job.[/quote][/b]

Thank you. You have no idea just how much we are scrutinized on a daily level, much less by those in an ivory tower and then also the general public. It's so tiresome. I teach in a title 1 school. You'd better bet that if we go on a merit pay system I'm going to a higher SES school. Not because I don't get results--I do. But I can't undo in 6 hours a day what poverty does to these kids. And ultimately my family is more important to me than the kids I teach. If you start tying my pay to variable factors (umm, human children, not widgets) then I'm not going to be a pawn in that game. [/quote]

I think it's insulting how much we demean these people supposedly entrusted with our children's intellectual development.[/quote]

[b] I think it's alarming how many people become teachers who themselves have not mastered the material they teach. It's alarming how easy it is to get top grades in education programs. We MUST improve the undergraduate and graduate education programs. We als MUST reward the good teachers-the sooner the better. People say that there is no way to evaluate, but that is bullshit. EVERYONE gets evaluated at their job. I think the best teachers should get bonuses and move up the pay scale faster. The bottom ones need to go and we need a more efficient way to evaluate poor performance and eventually remove the ones who need to go. We also need to establish a probationary period. If you are not performing up to expectations, then there needs to be remiation. More observations, seminars, etc to help those teachers improve. If there are no signs of improvement after a year ot 2...time to go.

Let's just get every teacher much more money is a waste of tax money. If you reward excellence, you will have more excellence. Save the high salaries for the stars and don't let the duds rise up to the top of the payscale.[/quote][/b]

What system doesn't evaluate its teachers? And most systems do have programs in place to weed out ineffective teachers. In MCPS it's called PAR. It is a 2 year probationary period complete with central office support and multiple observations. At the end of the 2nd year you go before a panel who decides your fate with input from your mentor teacher and your principal.

Most teachers in MCPS have an observation year every 3 years. There is one announced observation and one unannounced.

What people outside the teaching profession don't know is that it is incredibly political. Principals vary from very ethical to very shady. If you get on a shady principal's bad side for any reason then your fate could be sealed and you have very little protection. No matter what measures you take to evaluate teachers there will be a lot of subjectivity involved.

I get great observation write-ups from my principal. But I work in a very high FARMS school. My students, in general, will not be as high-scoring as high SES students for a variety of reasons. I'd like to continue working with the high-needs population because I can make a difference but like another PP said, if my pay depended on it then I'm moving to a higher SES school where it is much easier to be "effective" and get rewarded for it.

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