The state of Texas is ready to launch a new teacher merit pay program for next year, but more and more school districts are backing out of the plan. The $148 million dollar plan was supposed to give about 1 teacher out of 6 a merit raise in pay of at least $3000.
However, it looks like most schools are having second thoughts about participating in the program. So far, over 100 school districts have said they will not participate. This means that only about a third of the districts in the state will accept the state money and give the merit raises.
One of the reasons the districts are not participating is their already tight budgets. They have learned that although the state is now providing the funds, the state has said it can't promise the funds will continue in the future. In other words, the state may be giving raises the districts will have to fund in the future.
Other districts are unhappy that the raises are determined by a single standardized test. Is this really the way to pick who gets a merit raise? Can one test really tell us who the best teachers are? I seriously doubt it, and so do many educators. Some believe this will do little more than pit teacher against teacher, when they should be working together for the good of the students.
I don't blame the school districts that are not participating. Many of them have their own merit programs which use much more credible criteria to determine the best teachers. It looks to me like the state program was just a political move that was poorly planned.
I was subject to the Texas teacher assessment program when I taught there. I can tell you flat out that it was a dog-and-pony show, and that, furthermore, the primary determination of how well students scored on tests was their economic background and their overall educational background, not anything that one specific teacher taught them in one specific year. Kids with a good educational background could survive a bad teacher and still learn things. Kids with a poor educational background, even with the best teacher in our school (who was *not* me), struggled.
ReplyDeleteThe teachers know who's a "strong" teacher and who's a "weak" teacher. You don't need a test to figure this out. All you need to do is ask the teachers.
-Badtux the (former) Teacher Penguin