Posts Tagged ‘Education’

Check out the great story appeared in USA Today regarding teacher bonuses tied to improved student test scores.  What a novel idea, paying for results, holding a buaracracy like the American public education system accountable for their students performance. 

   A few examples:

• In Chicago, teachers at a handful of schools can earn up to $8,000 in annual bonuses for improved scores, while mentor teachers and “lead teachers” can earn an extra $7,000 or $15,000, respectively.

• In Nashville, middle-school math teachers can earn up to $15,000 based on student performance.

Do such plans work? A research center launched at Vanderbilt University to study performance pay has found mostly promising, if limited, results.

Realizing the importance of the K-12 education system on economic development Denver voters agreed to raise their taxes and approved a $25 million teacher pay increase package – with one catch increases were to be based on merit.

ProComp has four components that allow teachers to build earnings through nine elements:

Knowledge and Skills – Teachers will earn compensation for acquiring and demonstrating knowledge and skills by completing annual professional development units, through earning additional graduate degrees and national certificates and may be reimbursed up to $1,000 for tuition.

Professional Evaluation – Teachers will be recognized for their classroom skill by receiving salary increases every three years for satisfactory evaluations.

Student Growth – Teachers will be rewarded for the academic growth of their students. They can earn compensation for meeting annual objectives, for exceeding CSAP growth goals and for working in a school judged distinguished based on academic gains and other factors.

Market Incentives – Bonuses can assist the district and schools in meeting specific needs. Teachers in hard to serve schools—those faced with academic challenges—can earn annual bonuses. Bonuses will be available to those filling hard to staff positions—assignments which historically have shortages of qualified applicants.

Add in a financial incentive and the quality and caliber of our public education system will increase.  Nation wide over half the teachers leave the profession within five years and we are so desperately lacking math teachers that 1/3 of middle and high school math teachers are by someone lacking even a college minor in math.  Increase the education levels of our greatest assets, children and one more leg of our economic prosperity will be achieved.

TUSD is looking for a budget over ride this November (Proper 403). I for one would feel a lot more comfortable increasing my taxes if there were measurable results.