Today, the Idaho House passed a bill to approve merit based pay for teachers. While I whole-heartedly believe that the education system should become professionalized in this manner, I shudder to think of what a nightmare it is going to be to implement merit pay into the current system.
The article I read says that the legislation will "... award bonuses to teachers who raise student achievement..." Student achievement means ... mastery of material? Increased state test scores? Working the system? "Student achievement" is a term that gets thrown around in education like an "end hunger" campaign. Sure, we know there are a lot of people hungry in the world, but it's a pretty ambiguous term as to what the specific call to action is, and it's easy to justify our own inaction by assuming that someone else is dedicated to the cause and making a difference, and just needs our moral support.
So, here's a specific call to action - define student achievement.
Via the HuffingtonPost
The article I read says that the legislation will "... award bonuses to teachers who raise student achievement..." Student achievement means ... mastery of material? Increased state test scores? Working the system? "Student achievement" is a term that gets thrown around in education like an "end hunger" campaign. Sure, we know there are a lot of people hungry in the world, but it's a pretty ambiguous term as to what the specific call to action is, and it's easy to justify our own inaction by assuming that someone else is dedicated to the cause and making a difference, and just needs our moral support.
So, here's a specific call to action - define student achievement.
Via the HuffingtonPost
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