If you give a teacher performance pay….3 Comments
A recent study reported on in The Washington Post, Politics Daily, and Education Week found that offering teachers bonuses did not improve student achievement. There has been buzz about teacher performance bonuses in the past few years, especially since the President offered the Race to the Top awards. The results of this study, considered the first scientifically valid one on performance pay, conducted over three years by researchers at Vanderbilt University, cast doubt on the validity of teacher bonuses to help our students and raise questions about how we will improve schools and learning.
First, is tracking only test scores the answer? The teacher bonuses were based on increases in standardized student test scores. I think there are other, better ways to assess our students more completely. In addition, since so many schools are tying teacher and administrator performance to student test scores, is this the best way to judge professionals or to help us to improve our practice and teach more effectively? I hold out hope that a better review process for teachers in which we are encouraged to be reflective and dynamic in our planning and assessment is a step in the right direction.
So, what’s next if bonuses don’t work?
Comments
I don’t think there is any true professional who does not want to improve and do better, especially when it comes to giving our students the best. Part of being able to do more for our kids in order to influence their success is to be learners ourselves and to refine our craft of teaching. Any system of bonuses that exists in a vacuum and a system that does not consider that teacher preparation and life-long learning is essential is a broken system. A bonus system that only looks at test scores and nothing else may just turn out to be a one-dimensional gotcha system and really takes no time or care to consider our children as whole beings.
I have seen a student begin the school year SO far behind that you wonder what happened in the series of years before. I have seen that student grow in self-esteem, which in turn meant that she finally believed that she COULD learn and that if she tried, she COULD succeed. That did not show on her standardized test toward the end of the year, but growth could be seen in discussions with the student and a variety of class and school assessments and observations that were ongoing. The child’s demeanor and interaction with the tasks that were set before her told much more of a story than a 2-session test did. So, in this child and teacher’s case there would be no teacher bonus and in fact, in the eyes of a bonus system that only looks at tests, all one would see is failure. What I see is the growth over her first year with us and that she will continue to have, provided the right planning and support for her. I recognize that we have a long way to go in helping her go as far as possible. I also see that we need to collaborate, and by developing a plan for learning and continuing to support every teacher who works with her, we will therefore, support her.
Teachers do need to collaborate with colleagues or through networking sites to improve the learning plans for those having difficulties in performing in the classroom. Teachers have an enormous amount of responsiblity and most of them want the best for thier students. I do agree that teachers need to model being learners to help increase student learning in the classroom.
Below I have copied many of the bullets from the article to illustrate how TAP addresses each.
* Teachers whose students make the greatest achievement gains have extensive preparation and experience relevant to their current assignment (subject, grade level, and student population taught).
TAP is about keeping quality teachers on high needs campus. Becasue we are a TAP campus and my best teachers get a higher payout my best teachers stay. Or at least they think twice before taking another position. I have had more than one teacher choose to stay at my campus because of the support and on-going professional growth.
* Opportunities to work with like-minded, similarly accomplished colleagues – and to build and share collective expertise – are also strongly associated with effective teaching.
TAP is about growing teacher excellence, so as a teacher you either get better and work as a team or you find a different place to work. TAP put the structure in place to create a professional development system to grow and empower teachers. The teachers that did not want to grow left or retired. When we were interviewing new candidates the ones that were really excitted about improving and sharing their expertice were the ones we were able to intice.
* Accomplished teachers who have opportunities to share their expertise — and serve as leaders (as coaches, mentors, teacher educator, etc.) — are more likely to remain in the profession.
TAP provided something called multiple career paths, meaning that your best teachers stay involved in the classroom by being Mentor and Master Teachers. Mentor teachers are responsible for mentoring teachers, being involved in planning, and supporting Cluster (weekly professional growth). The Master teacher is responsible for supporting teachers and developing cluster.
* To teach effectively, teachers must have access to the people, resources, and policies that support their work in the classroom. This includes: (1) principals who cultivate and embrace teacher leadership;
Good principals certaininly cultivate teacher leadership, but in a low socio-economic school and a high needs campus there simply is not enough time. In TAP the principal has an entire leadership team (Master Teachers, Mentor Teachers, Administration) to help support and cultivate teacher leadership. The leadership team is like giving the principal extra people who focus on instruction, teacher growth, and student growth. On a TAP campus teachers get the support they need.
(2) time and tools for teachers to learn from each other,
TAP provides weekly cluster; weekly on-going applyied professional growth during the school day. Teacher learning takes place during the day each week.
(3) opportunities for teachers to connect and work with community organizations and agencies that support students and their families outside the school walls;
Although this component is encouraged in TAP it is not one of the key components.
(4) evaluation systems that comprehensively measure the impact of teachers on student learning,
This is were I really get excitted and fired up. Each teacher on my campus has 3 observations. One from an administrator, mentor teacher, and a master teacher. This really eliminates much of the bias I have experienced in other evaluation systems. The TAP system evaluates teacher impact by incorporating teacher observations and student growth performance.
(5) performance pay systems that primarily reward the spread of teaching expertise and spur collaboration among teachers.
TAP performance pay rewards the best teachers the most. The best teachers are the ones who are collaborating and experts. Their leadership shines a light on the path for other teachers to follow. In my experience, I have alwaysed worked with a few great teachers and these individules have always been effective and collaborative. In the TAP system collaboration becomes the norm and your best teachers lead the other teachers to collaboration.