Dear Kevin Falcon–About Teacher Merit Pay
12January 5, 2011 by readlisaread
This post is about a “regional” issue, but it’s one that affects teachers everywhere, and for that matter, everyone with a stake in educating children.
In a press release, Liberal leadership candidate Kevin Falcon announced an idea he would like to put into policy, should he be elected party leader and/or Premier of BC. The full article is here, but the thrust of it is this: Mr. Falcon (is it ironic he carries the name of a bird of prey?) suggests that our education system would be SO much better if “good teachers got paid more than mediocre teachers”. He went on to say that if a teacher received a lower pay rate, based on their students’ achievement, then they would seek out a higher paid (ie, Better) teacher to ask for guidance and mentoring.
Now, I’m assuming that most people can see the problems with this model, and a rant from me isn’t really necessary. Anyone who understands the basics of behaviourism knows that rewards only work for certain behaviours, and extrinsic motivation is the least reliable. Add to that that there is no consideration being given to socio-economic status, ESL population, and a myriad of other factors that teachers know affect test scores, including the construction of the tests themselves. Despite applause from the Fraser Institute, I can’t imagine the majority of people walking around can’t see the flaws in this plan, but my question for Mr. Falcon is this:
What the hell were you thinking? We know the Liberals love to hate teachers, and your predecessor Mr. Campbell did all that he could to encourage the public to pay for a “better” education for their children in Private school– like he did–but seriously, Kevin, do you still hate your grade 9 math teacher that much? Let it go, man, he might have been an ineffective teacher, there are some of those, despite what you might think about us protecting our “brothers and sisters”, effective teachers that are just as uncomfortable as you seem to be with the idea that there are people teaching our kids who should have chosen a different career.
But let me also ask you this…. Would you likewise support Merit Pay for Politicians? Let’s base it on the popular vote, or maybe the popularity polls….or hey! Let’s ask the Opposition what they think you should get paid! What do you think of that idea, Kevin? Hello, Kevin? Kev?
Category Meanwhile, in other news | Tags: Falcon, Merit pay, news, teachers
Merit pay for politicians – great idea! Let’s setup a ‘Rate My Teacher’-like site for politicians and tie site activity and scores directly to their bi-weekly paycheques … huge reality TV spinoff potential there 🙂
Oh yeah…now there is reality TeeVee I could get behind! Thanks for the comment, Grant!
“Add to that that there is no consideration being given to socio-economic status, ESL population, and a myriad of other factors that teachers know affect test scores, including the construction of the tests themselves.”
I don’t live in your area, but did Mr. Falcon actually say this? That this would be based solely on students’ test scores?
Hello Excited Neuron! Thanks for your comment and for visiting– I hope you come by any time. Falcon’s press release was intended to draw attention to his candidacy for party leadership, so nothing he said was going to made into policy any time soon, but yes, this government is BIG on Standardized Testing, and yes, he did say that those test scores would be used to determine how successful or efficient a teacher was. Did he say SOLELY based on test scores? No, not as far as I recall, but to me it’s irrelevant. The whole concept is ludicrous in the extreme. There has been a lot of flurry in the press this week about his misguided suggestion, and I’m willing to bet that is the end of his candidacy.
” this government is BIG on Standardized Testing, and yes, he did say that those test scores would be used to determine how successful or efficient a teacher was. Did he say SOLELY based on test scores? No, not as far as I recall, but to me it’s irrelevant. The whole concept is ludicrous in the extreme.”
Trying to clarify–
Are you saying you think the concept of paying good teachers more than mediocre teachers is ludicrous? If so, I’d have to say I strongly disagree. When a school has a proper assessment/evaluation system in place for their educators (which takes into account a lot more than just standardized test scores), then rewarding the better teachers with better pay makes perfect sense to me.
Well, you are entitled to your opinion. I’m glad they don’t offer Doctors Merit Pay. Doctors are held to a professional standard, and they are trusted to do so. If there are “mediocre” teachers, it’s the fault of the system, not the profession. Tell me, how would you pay Home Ec teachers, say, as compared to Calculus 12 teachers? Or what about Remedial Teachers? How will we measure their “merit” working with a student with an IQ of 75? Hmmmm……. Yes, throwing money at someone ALWAYS makes them be a better human being.
Ooh! Here is an interesting article, on the topic of Student Awards. http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun/blogs/reportcard/archive/2011/01/10/are-academic-awards-losing-favour-in-b-c-schools.aspx
How apropos!
” If there are “mediocre” teachers, it’s the fault of the system, not the profession. Tell me, how would you pay Home Ec teachers, say, as compared to Calculus 12 teachers? Or what about Remedial Teachers? How will we measure their “merit” working with a student with an IQ of 75? Hmmmm……. Yes, throwing money at someone ALWAYS makes them be a better human being.”
I’m not talking about increasing someone’s pay as a “dangling carrot” to make them work harder. If someone already sucks as an educator, increasing their pay isn’t going to change anything (at least not for long). That doesn’t mean, though, that good educators shouldn’t be rewarded monetarily.
As I stated previously, you’d have to have an effective evaluation/appraisal system in place. I don’t know how it is in Canada, which I believe is where you hail from, but here in the U.S. most evaluations for teachers are done quite poorly. Evaluations often consist of one or two quick visits to the classroom throughout the entire school year. Evaluations need to consist of multiple catergories that allow for all the nuances of that teacher’s particular role to be assessed, and the teacher needs to be seen in the class on more than 1 or 2 occasions. Not all teachers teach the same class or same type of students, so not all of the categories assessed should be identical for every person.
The evaluations do need to take into account evidence of student learning in addition to what is seen in the classroom. This can, and should, be based partially on test scores and/or added value. At the same time, it must be kept in mind that learning is volitional, and a teacher cannot force a student to think, nor can a teacher overcome a lot of the family/home/social issues that many of their students are facing.
In addition, teachers should be involved in the process of evaluations instead of just administrators. An administrator with a background in foreign language might have a difficult time properly assessing someone who teaches chemistry. Peer reviewers, though, which could consist of coworkers as well as expert teachers outside of the school, could provide valuable input in evaluations.
Clearly this is brief and not entirely fleshed out and I’m sure it has some quirks, but I believe that if this could be put into place, not only would it be easier to get rid of incompetent teachers, but it would also give the education system a way to reward teachers for the job they do.
Personally, I think we should do everything you just outlined, and have assessment that is meaningful for everyone, just as we wish to have for our students. I think we should also have processes in place for teacher transfer and reassignment at the teacher’s request. I think if teachers were allowed to teach to their strengths, were given healthy and useful feedback, and were respected by their administration and the media, and were paid a fair and equitable wage, commensurate for a professional with 6 or 7 year post sec degrees, then there would be no talk of Merit Pay, as there would be no need to reward or punish one another.
Again, thank you, very much, for the discussion.
[…] not surprisingly, all the schools in the top 10 were private schools. I went off on one earlier this year about the suggestion that teacher’s receive merit pay based on their […]
Politicians’ pay should be indexed to the average increase in public sector salaries the previous year.
That would shut them up about “overpaid teachers” AND put an end to labour disputes. 🙂
Ha! I completely agree–base it on the popular vote maybe! Thanks so much for reading!