[sunrico90]

The Florida Legislature's new teacher merit pay plan may have been passed with union support, but teachers still don't like it and some school districts have declined to participate, turning down millions of dollars in state bonus money.

It's called The Merit Awards Program, and it has been drawing similar complaints to a bonus pay system called Special Teachers are Rewarded program that it replaced in March.

Proponents say the plan is a way to reward outstanding teachers for their work, but critics say it undermines teamwork by pitting teacher against teacher in a scramble for a limited number of bonuses.

Some explain it's unfair and inaccurate to use a single high-stakes test to determine who gets the extra money. "I don't think teaching is a competitive activity. Teaching should be a cooperative activity."

Teachers and their unions also say merit pay should be put on hold until base salaries are increased to the national average. Florida is about $6,000 below par, according to the Florida Education Association, the statewide teachers union.

Do you agree on this? Merit pay is commonly used by private business to promote higher productivity. Proponents hope it will do the same in the classroom and help attract and retain the best teachers.

[LM1]

I do believe that superior teachers should be rewarded.
Even though we may all be equal in gods eyes, we aren't all equal performers in the workplace- this includes teachers, too. I absolutely, positively support rewarding the superior teachers.

The only people who would be against this are the sort of people who believe that our entire society should lower the bar to accommodate everyone regardless of ability or performance. We've been doing that for far too long and because of it, we've paid the price.

[Blue717]

NO our children pay the price!

[Retiredcoach]

What teacher in his/her right mind would want to work with the disabled or mentally challenged? The incentive to excel is limited to those teachers of the gifted and/or are on the college track. Most of Florida schools are regarded as lousy educational environments for the disabled, and now, their teachers will have little chance to be paid as their peers. On paper, merit raises appear to be great ideas, but in the real world, schools are not businesses... kids can never be considered machines, numbers, and/or commodities.

[Crew Chief]

As the husband of a teacher, my wife and I have had discussions about many of the issues facing teachers, including merit pay. We are BOTH with the critics who want to reform education. Their hearts are in the right place. But many of the changes they propose are not without problems. Merit pay is the perfect example. Paying teachers when their students pass a high-stakes test gets them to "teach to the test" instead of arming their students with knowledge they can apply to their lives in practical ways. And what if you teach an "elective" subject instead of a "core" subject? Some say that only teachers of "core" subjects should be eligible for merit pay. In my wife's middle school, very little grammar is taught in Language Arts (ELA) classes. My wife teaches German, an "elective" subject. Because her students MUST have a working knowledge of English grammar before they can learn a foreign language, SHE ends up teaching what the ELA teachers are getting merit pay for. How fair is that?

As far as test scores, there are0. SO many variables; the old saw about a test being a measurement ONLY of that one day's performance is definitely true. My wife has some years where her whole class is really sharp and eager to learn. The next year's class may just be the wrong mix of students. How do you account for that difference?

Tenure is another sore point. Tenure protects teachers from vindictive parents and administrators. But it also makes getting rid of poor teachers much more difficult. There are some teachers that get burned out after years in the classroom. Why can't they be given a buyout and be shown the door? That'd make a lot of sense. But who gets to decide if you're "burned out"? And what measurements do they use? Recruiting people who have worked for years in business, industry and public service to become teachers in mid-career also has many positive aspects. Getting someone "fresh from the field" certainly has merit. But today's teacher must cope with SO many specialized issues with students such as learning disabilities, conditions in the student's home, even ever-changing state laws and other educational demands that a few orientation courses won't prepare a newly-minted teacher for the classroom.

So as much as we'd all like an easy solution to the educational dilemmas we face in America, the answers aren't always as easy as they seem...

[MrTudo]

Vastly overpaid profession . Raising a generation of morons ( by and large)

Perhaps this is why it's a part of the communist manifesto? ( 10. Free education for all children in public schools. ) ( draw your own interpretations as to how it's controlled, paid for, what they teach etc.)

Save your Children. Work and extra job to pay for private school.

[Huckleberry3911948]

Originally Posted by sunrico90

The Florida Legislature's new teacher merit pay plan may have been passed with union support, but teachers still don't like it and some school districts have declined to participate, turning down millions of dollars in state bonus money.

It's called The Merit Awards Program, and it has been drawing similar complaints to a bonus pay system called Special Teachers are Rewarded program that it replaced in March.

Proponents say the plan is a way to reward outstanding teachers for their work, but critics say it undermines teamwork by pitting teacher against teacher in a scramble for a limited number of bonuses.

Some explain it's unfair and inaccurate to use a single high-stakes test to determine who gets the extra money. "I don't think teaching is a competitive activity. Teaching should be a cooperative activity."

Teachers and their unions also say merit pay should be put on hold until base salaries are increased to the national average. Florida is about $6,000 below par, according to the Florida Education Association, the statewide teachers union.

Do you agree on this? Merit pay is commonly used by private business to promote higher productivity. Proponents hope it will do the same in the classroom and help attract and retain the best teachers.

current national pastime, kicking around civil servants which is what teachers are.
it aint right.
stephen s
san diego ca

[121804]

I am a middle school social studies & english teacher. Teaching to the test is so wrong, I don't even know where to start. I won't ramble on due to the fact most on here are not teachers & therefore cannot understand the true nature of the profession.

It is one of the hardest & most underpaid professions. Unless you've been a teacher, you wouldn't get what I am saying for you probably assume teachers get off at 3pm, get weekends & summers off.

If it was only "that" easy...the profession would not have some of the issues that it does.

It is by far the most rewarding profession next to parenting & nothing can explain it if your heart is in it.

Teaching is a business though & state mandated tests have ruined SO much. Thanks to GW & his fine administrations design of No Child Left Behind, a huge disaster has happened.

The merit pay is catching on in many states as is just pure fear. Have you ever seen
3rd graders throw up before a state mandated test due to fear of failing? How about teachers spending 75% of the year teaching to the test & not "teaching".

Look at the areas many of the schools are that fail the test...very low income; single parents, drugs, etc etc. Again, I could go on & on. It is VERY VERY challenging to teach in certain areas & certain fields. Sometimes, you cannot reach every child. Sometimes the studetns don't even show up to school for days on end.

I will no longer teach in the public school system & will only teach in parochial schools. This means a good 50% pay cut & no retirement fund. But, I am not subjected to state mandated testing or state mandated lesson plans. I have a level of freedom that allows me to be the best teacher I can be for my students. [most parochial schools require Iowa Test of Basic Skills or a general state test to monitor achievement]

As for the comment on raising a generation of morons...you can thank parents & media for that; it is not the fault of public schools. Take responsibility for raising your children & don't blame the system. Private schools can't fix parents & the popular culture either.

[macguy]

Originally Posted by MrTudo

Vastly overpaid profession . Raising a generation of morons ( by and large)

Perhaps this is why it's a part of the communist manifesto? ( 10. Free education for all children in public schools. ) ( draw your own interpretations as to how it's controlled, paid for, what they teach etc.)

Save your Children. Work and extra job to pay for private school.

In all the years I was in school I had maybe one teacher that was worth a damn and I bet most people on this board it they are honest would say about the same. Most teachers are a waste, just showing up and going through the motions.

[littlefamily]

I homeschool my children, but anticipate some day sending them back to public schools. Knowing they will encounter public education at some time, we do standardized testing yearly, because it is a skill that needs to be taught.

It is always an eye-opener. The questions in the areas of science and social studies are so common sense it makes me wonder what actual facts children do know in these areas. Math and Language Arts seem to be a better indicator of knowledge, but even those make me wonder. There were several questions in the estimation section that would give a span of 100 for the answer (ie... between 100 & 200, or 300 & 400) What ever happened to just finding the correct answer to math problems?

I feel for teachers that have about 20 children and the pressure for them ALL to succeed - statistically speaking it can't happen. All children have different learning styles and having only one tool for measuring is ridiculous.

And don't get me started on how much money is being spent on the bottom 5% of children trying to get them to meet the "No Child Left Behind". What about the top 5% of students that are wasting away in our schools while we try to help every child meet a mediocre goal...