I note with tragic amusement the idea propounded by Mickey King in his recent letter to the editor proposing that teacher pay be tied to student performance. This is both a simplistic and specious argument. The author's credentials appear not to include experience as a teacher, but as an "alumni Marietta High, Marietta Middle School and Westside Elementary." I thought alumni was plural.
However, the idea that teacher excellence and qualifications for more pay be tied to student performance seems to ignore consideration of exactly what the teacher has to work with. Students from dysfunctional homes, those lacking proficiency in English, or those simply rebellious and hostile, are a special problem, whether the teacher has a Ph.D. or not. Surely the writer must recognize that such students are harder to teach than one from enlightened parents who recognize and insist on their children doing their best regardless of intellectual or psychic handicaps.
Then, in order to tie teacher pay to student performance requires testing. Most of us know that not all students test well. And not all tests adequately measure learning. They are at best an approximation of how well the student has mastered the material, and will be able to put it to good use in the after-school world, whether during or following his educational experience. After all, the purpose of education is to prepare the student for life, is it not?
Those who lack actual experience in the classroom, or whose lives have been spent in the sinecure of an upper-middle-class lifestyle, have little understanding of what it takes to be a good teacher. I hope Mickey King will reconsider the proposal.
Bill Bruner
Marietta
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As a great teacher who is devoted to my classroom of kids, it is very frustrating to know that the teacher down the hall who sleeps in class, and could care less, makes more money then me because she has more degrees and more years as a teacher. And yes, my test scores are better than hers too!
It is very frustrating for all involved.
Secondly, it is my experience that your reasons for not tying teacher pay to student performance are valid. The "proof" of student learning vis a vis test score data is often misleading and incomplete. Many people do not realize that End-of-Course Tests merely count 15% of a student's overall grade, and that it is entirely possible for a student to pass a class without passing the EOCT. Until the test counts more, students will not take it as seriously; consequently, I do not want my pay to depend on how seriously a student decides a test will be to him/her.
There are just too many facets to true student learning, much of which will not even become obvious until long after a student graduates from high school. I, for one, believe that people are taking this issue way too seriously, which puts undue pressure on both the kids and the teachers.