Performance Pay
Understand more about basing salary bonuses or raises on performance rather than solely on tenure
States
State Ballot Measures Include Hot K-12 Issues
Voters in various states will decide on teacher evaluations, funding, and charter school access, among other issues.
Education Funding
Letter to the Editor
Teacher Compensation Is 'One Piece of the Puzzle'
To the Editor:
Laura Overdeck, Arthur Levine, and Christopher Daggett are exactly on target in "Rethinking Teacher Compensation" (Aug. 22, 2012). Indeed, we must reassess and front-load how we pay teachers as a first step toward attracting and keeping the most effective candidates. However, front-loading compensation is incomplete.
Laura Overdeck, Arthur Levine, and Christopher Daggett are exactly on target in "Rethinking Teacher Compensation" (Aug. 22, 2012). Indeed, we must reassess and front-load how we pay teachers as a first step toward attracting and keeping the most effective candidates. However, front-loading compensation is incomplete.
Recruitment & Retention
Opinion
Human Capital, STEM, & Evaluation Focus of $285M TIF Competition
Today, the U.S. Department of Education released a 277-page report outlining updated priorities, application information, eligibility requirements, and other details for a fourth round of Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) grants, which are set to be awarded this fall. The TIF 4 competition provides two grant opportunities. The General TIF Competition, according to a USDOE press release, is designed to support "district-wide evaluation systems that reward success, offer greater professional opportunities, and drive decision-making on recruitment, development, and retention of effective teachers and principals." The TIF Competition with a STEM Focus will provide funding focused on improving science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) instruction. An information packet for both TIF 4 competitions is available on USDOE's website.
Curriculum
Ed. Scholars: Common Core Presents Crucial Moment for Teacher Collaboration
On the Atlantic's National blog, University of Michigan education professors Jeffrey Mirel and Simona Goldin express optimism that the current movement towards a common curriculum could boost what they consider woeful levels of teacher collaboration in U.S. schools:
Teaching Profession
Opinion
The Trouble With Pay for Performance
Teacher pay should reflect a multidimensional evaluation system, write Gerald Tirozzi, Marian Hermie, and Wayne Schmidt.
Teaching Profession
Opinion
What Do Teachers Want?
The Scholastic-Gates Survey says in its conclusion that "On average, teachers work about 11 hours and 25 minutes a day."
Recruitment & Retention
Opinion
Monetary Vs. Non-monetary Rewards: Which Are More Attractive?
More and more districts are asking me about non-monetary awards. Why? There's a growing belief that not only would many educators prefer rewards other than cash, but that non-monetary awards are actually "free" or "cheaper" in comparison to bonuses.
Teaching Profession
Opinion
How to Demoralize Teachers
The principal of an outstanding elementary school in Brooklyn wrote me to say that the release of the ratings made her "absolutely sick." One of her teachers was rated for a year when she was away on child-care leave.
Teaching Profession
Shades of (Daniel) Pink: The Merit Pay Debate
In case you missed it, last week's Washington Post article on merit pay does a nice job of summing up the major rift between proponents and skeptics of a school reform effort that, according to the Post reporter, is "suddenly gaining traction."
Assessment
Opinion
A Dark Day for New York
Does anyone seriously believe that teachers in New York state will dare to stop teaching to the test? How many will be fired if they take that risk?
Teaching Profession
Opinion
Does President Obama Know What Race to the Top Is?
Do you think that President Obama just doesn't understand that Race to the Top has encouraged states to double down on high-stakes testing? Maybe he doesn't realize that the strategies of his administration rely totally on test scores.
Teaching Profession
Opinion
What is TIF & Why Should Your District Care?
Over the past three years, I've had the pleasure of working, in one way or another, with more than 42 school districts that have received a federal Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) grant. TIF grants are designed to support state level departments of education, districts, charter schools, or non-profit organizations (in partnership with a state, district, or charter) with the design, implementation, evaluation, and continuous improvement of evaluation and strategic compensation systems that identify and reward teachers or principals for developing specific skills, knowledge or abilities; holding leadership roles; exceptional performance; or for working in hard-to-staff subjects or in high-need schools.
Teaching Profession
Opinion
What Value Did the Chetty Study Add?
We might or might not have higher test scores, but at what cost? Under these circumstances, who will want to teach?
Teaching Profession
How Much Should Teachers Make?
New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof points to a new Harvard study finding that good teachers—as defined by value-added test score analysis—have a profound long-term effect on students. According to the study, he notes, an average-size 4th grade class with a strong teacher will go on to earn $700,000 more in their life times (in total) than a class with a poor teacher. Gleaning the potential policy implications, Kristof says the study demonstrates 1) that we need to provide higher pay to good teachers and 2) that value-added ratings do in fact "reveal a great deal about whether a teacher is working out."