(np) merit pay

[Bekah]

Some teachers teach in schools where the parent support is currently  
in jail, on drugs,  moving around the country or  illiterate in  
English or any other language.  I just got a child from the Nevada  
schools who knows almost nothing of what my kids do.   And I have 3  
kids who,  I believe,  have special needs,  learning handicaps,  but  
this can't be addressed until they've been in school 2 years.   I get  
kids who don't speak English and don't know the names of the colors in  
any language or how to hold a pencil or write their first name (even  
scrawled).   They have never had books read to them.    I'm supposed  
to be paid on the basis of how well these kids test compared to kids  
at another school where the incoming kindergartners can already read  
and write thanks to highly motivated, upper middle class parents and  
expensive pre-schools?    You better build some equalizing factors in  
there or lower functioning schools will have no teachers.

Bekah



On Apr 14, 2010, at 8:20 PM, Michael Bailey wrote:

> in the time-honored tradition of Democratic presidents using their
> political capital to achieve Republican goals,
> Obama apparently wants teacher merit pay...
>
> I much prefer the idea of paying students for good test scores.
> The standardized tests are already in place, right?
>
> All that remains is to let it be known
> that compensation is a dollar a point.  I believe that would foster
> better behavior
> and more intense attention, thus achieving the goals of "merit pay" at
> less expense
> and creating a connection between work and reward in students' minds  
> that
> is (if I recall correctly) really not there till somebody puts it  
> there...
>
>
> (also we need to fix the crack in the Liberty Bell and take those  
> nasty
> presidential faces off the money!)