Linking Teacher Pay to Grades. Let's Do It

Last week In Effect had a timely post All Hail the Market!: Linking Test Scores to Teacher Salaries:

...Tying standardized tests scores to teacher pay fundamentally shuts down academic freedom and local control in the classroom--unless, that is, the teacher chooses not to care about getting salary bonuses.

All of this came from a Marshfield News-Herald article: More Districts Offer Teachers Bonuses for Higher Test Scores:

In the past year, Minnesota, Florida, Texas and the cities of Houston and Denver have established merit pay programs that partly or completely tie bonuses to student achievement. Other states, including Ohio, Iowa and Mississippi, are considering similar programs

Fine. Let's do it.  The best teachers will migrate to the richest school districts. Districts with large number of kids in poverty will lag further behind (not just Milwaukee, but a lot of rural school districts)  and then maybe some of the legislators will figure out this is not such a good idea.

Should we tell them that passing the standardized test means you can pass the standardized test but it doesn't mean a pupil can think.

Comments

[Tim Morrissey]

Paul - if you haven't read "Freakonomics" yet (it's on the best-seller list right now)...consider picking it up. The first chapter of the book addresses the issue of standardized tests and NCLB and all that crap. It's a fascinating read; you'll love it.