Merit Pay: Eagle County, Colorado
The age-old debate over merit pay for teachers continues through the 2008 presidential election. Because it is a hot topic for the education community, comments made by the candidates spark new articles. Take a look at this one posted on the NPR website. The commentary by teachers (one who appreciates the concept, and one who doesn't) is especially poignant. It demonstrates why there is such controversy over merit pay.
What concerned me from the article was the idea that master teachers in this Colorado school district spend less time with students than novices. What seemed more promising, though, was the idea that the entire faculty of a building could be rewarded for exemplary performance - rather than pitting teacher against teacher for the extra dough. Thoughts?
The words "Eagle County" caught my eye because I lived there a couple of different times in my childhood. Back in those days, it was very much a farming/ranching community that just happened to be close to Vail. If there were any Hispanic students at the time, I didn't identify them as such, and now 85 percent speak Spanish as their first language!
It would seem almost impossible to craft a merit-pay system for the teachers in this high-mobility situation (87 percent each year, I think the article said) that would be fair and equitable.
Posted by: letha | July 21, 2008 at 10:03 AM