How does merit pay work in the US and Australia?
Jan 16th 2011, 1:04 pm
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Location: British Columbia
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How does merit pay work in the US and Australia?
A high-profile politician in BC, Canada, recently floated the idea of merit pay for teachers and used the US and Australia as examples. I know there are a lot of Australian and American teachers here. So, how exactly does it work in those two countries?
1. How do they define 'successful' teachers? What is the criteria? Is it based only on standardized test scores or are there other factors?
2. If they use standardized test scores, what about teachers in subjects that don't have standardized tests such as Art, Physical Education, and Music? Are these teachers ineligible for merit pay? Would it be the same for non-enrolling teachers? That is, teachers who don't have a regular classroom of students, but work in a supporting role, such as Special Education, teacher librarians, counsellors, ESL teachers. Finally, what about Kindergarten teachers? I can't imagine a Kindergarten student sitting down to write a standardized test. Does that mean Kindergarten teachers are ineligible as well?
3. If it's just based on standardized testing scores, wouldn't all of the teachers just flee from the inner-city schools and go to the middle-class suburbs? Wouldn't all of the intelligent parents in the inner-city see this movement of talented teachers and send their children to schools in the suburbs? Wouldn't this just increase the divide between the 'rich' schools and the 'poor' schools?
4. If it's based on the progress students make, again, how do they define it? Is it only by standardized test scores from one year to the next? Or are there other factors? How is the recording-keeping bureaucracy managed for this merit pay system to succeed? Families move, children attend different schools. Your current class of students didn't necessarily attend your school last year. How are their records examined to define progress for the purpose of teacher merit pay?
5. If it is based on progress, would a teacher who takes a class of students from Failing to a C get more merit pay than a teacher who takes a class from a B+ to an A-?
6. Finally, with a lot of emphasis on Professional Learning Communities (PLC's) and collaborative teaching lately, teachers are sharing the responsibility for teaching and assessing with other teachers in the schools. Classroom walls are being knocked down and teachers are no longer supposed to teach in isolation from each other. Students may visit a variety of teachers in a day. Does that mean that merit pay is given to the whole staff?
Lots of questions, I know! Thank you for answering!
1. How do they define 'successful' teachers? What is the criteria? Is it based only on standardized test scores or are there other factors?
2. If they use standardized test scores, what about teachers in subjects that don't have standardized tests such as Art, Physical Education, and Music? Are these teachers ineligible for merit pay? Would it be the same for non-enrolling teachers? That is, teachers who don't have a regular classroom of students, but work in a supporting role, such as Special Education, teacher librarians, counsellors, ESL teachers. Finally, what about Kindergarten teachers? I can't imagine a Kindergarten student sitting down to write a standardized test. Does that mean Kindergarten teachers are ineligible as well?
3. If it's just based on standardized testing scores, wouldn't all of the teachers just flee from the inner-city schools and go to the middle-class suburbs? Wouldn't all of the intelligent parents in the inner-city see this movement of talented teachers and send their children to schools in the suburbs? Wouldn't this just increase the divide between the 'rich' schools and the 'poor' schools?
4. If it's based on the progress students make, again, how do they define it? Is it only by standardized test scores from one year to the next? Or are there other factors? How is the recording-keeping bureaucracy managed for this merit pay system to succeed? Families move, children attend different schools. Your current class of students didn't necessarily attend your school last year. How are their records examined to define progress for the purpose of teacher merit pay?
5. If it is based on progress, would a teacher who takes a class of students from Failing to a C get more merit pay than a teacher who takes a class from a B+ to an A-?
6. Finally, with a lot of emphasis on Professional Learning Communities (PLC's) and collaborative teaching lately, teachers are sharing the responsibility for teaching and assessing with other teachers in the schools. Classroom walls are being knocked down and teachers are no longer supposed to teach in isolation from each other. Students may visit a variety of teachers in a day. Does that mean that merit pay is given to the whole staff?
Lots of questions, I know! Thank you for answering!
