Performance Pay
Understand more about basing salary bonuses or raises on performance rather than solely on tenure
Teaching Profession
Researchers: School-Level Incentives Unite the 'Tortoise and Hare'
School-level incentives for teachers are potentially more effective than individual incentives, according to a pair of researchers who spoke yesterday at an education-policy symposium in downtown Washington.
School & District Management
Indiana Education Package Bears Conservative Stamp
From an ambitious new voucher program to curbs on teacher pay and bargaining rights, Gov. Mitch Daniels and fellow Republicans notch big victories.
Teaching Profession
News in Brief
Virginia Governor Rolls out Teacher Merit-Pay Plan
Gov. Robert F. McDonnell of Virginia has invited 57 districts with struggling schools to apply for $3 million in state funding for merit pay.
Education Funding
Teacher-Evaluation Logistics Challenge States
As the Race to the Top deadline looms, unlikely players are taking the lead in designing the new evaluation systems.
Federal
Opinion
Social Norms Beat Market Norms
Curiously, the corporate reform movement likes to talk about data-driven decisions, but they ignore any data that doesn't support what they want to do. For example, when the Vanderbilt study of merit pay was published, the U.S. Department of Education immediately released nearly $500 million for—what else—more merit-pay programs, and promised that another $500 million would be forthcoming.
Teaching Profession
News in Brief
Idaho Gov. Signs Merit Pay, Collective Bargaining Bills
A week after Wisconsin officials approved a law to limit collective bargaining for teachers, Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter signed into law a similar measure, one that drew protests in his state.
Teacher Preparation
Opinion
Teacher-Quality Bills Undermine Teacher-Education's Value
Veteran teacher Virginia E. Harper writes that legislation in her state, Florida, makes her feel that lawmakers don't value the doctorate she worked hard to earn.
Assessment
Opinion
Thoughts on the Failure of Merit Pay
Merit pay has been tried again and again since the 1920s. Sometimes scores go up, sometimes they don't, but the programs never seem to make much difference and eventually disappear.
Teaching Profession
News in Brief
Tenure and Merit-Pay Bill Easily Passes Fla. Senate
A new version of a teacher merit-pay and tenure bill that was vetoed last year after statewide protests is now on a fast track to passage.
Teaching Profession
Sunday Papers: 'Evaluate and Differentiate'
Amid the ongoing debates over collective bargaining and the power of unions, teachers were (yet again) a focus of major newspaper op-ed pages yesterday:
Student Well-Being & Movement
State-by-State Battle on Bargaining Rights Continuing to Unfold
As Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's controversial proposal to require teachers to pay more for benefits and curb their collective bargaining rights remained mired in a political deadlock last week, an Ohio plan with some of the same goals was rolling forward, despite objections from educators.
Teaching Profession
Report Roundup
Merit Pay
No more than 500 of the nation's 14,000 school districts have implemented merit-pay plans for teachers, according to a new study.
Teaching Profession
Letter to the Editor
'We Must Work Together to Dispel Myths'
To the Editor:
As legislative sessions get under way, many discussions focus on school reform. Teacher-tenure and performance-pay issues provide welcome opportunities for debate.
As legislative sessions get under way, many discussions focus on school reform. Teacher-tenure and performance-pay issues provide welcome opportunities for debate.
Teaching Profession
Gates: Give Effective Teachers More Students
In an op-ed published in the Washington Post this morning—and addressed to the nation's governors, who are gathering in D.C. this week for their annual meeting—Bill Gates points to the impact that excellent teachers have on student achievement and argues that tight education budgets would be best spent on leveraging their expertise and creating more of them. Saying that other popular school-improvements initiatives (e.g., class-size reductions, increases in teacher pay for advanced degrees) have proved to be expensive dead-ends, he offers a sample policy prescription: