NYT: Working With the Enemy (performance pay and teachers' unions)

[DeepModem Mom]

Working With the Enemy
By DOUGLAS MCGRAY

Published: January 16, 2005


....For the last five years, (Brad Jupp, who leads contract negotiations for the Denver Classroom Teachers Association) has overseen a plan, expected to be rolled out districtwide next year, that will pay teachers substantial bonuses based in part on how well their students perform, with financial incentives to teachers who choose to work in the city's less affluent neighborhoods or teach hard-to-staff subjects.
The ideas aren't new; several states and districts have experimented with some form of performance pay, primarily bonuses to entire schools whose test scores improve. But the idea of rewarding individual teachers invariably touches off a political firestorm and eventually gets derailed.

Indeed, the national teachers' unions -- the National Education Association, a network of mostly suburban and rural school systems, and the American Federation of Teachers, its smaller, more urban counterpart -- have spent decades fighting such ideas in favor of a formula that sets salaries according to classroom experience, with a bump for extra time in graduate school.

Yet Denver's plan is something else altogether: not only does it reward individuals, but it was designed, tested and sold to a majority of the city's teachers by the union itself.

As a result, Denver's union, one of the N.E.A.'s larger locals, ''became pariahs at N.E.A. meetings,'' the school board president, Les Woodward, says in an observation echoed by others. ''They were believed to be working on a project contrary to the interests of any unionized teacher.'' Some teachers agree, particularly those who remember the rights and raises unions won in the 1960's, and how they won them: by fighting administrators and elected officials, not by joining them. Yet in minimizing seniority-based raises, Denver won its first really substantial increase in more than two decades: up to an additional 20 percent in performance raises and bonuses. That could bring salaries to the level of Denver's suburban schools, which have lured away many experienced city teachers....


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/16/education/edlife/EDUNIO.html?pagewanted=all&position=

[roguevalley]

1. tying pay to performance is an invitation to cheat. I would have

had a hard time in my school. The economic level was low and so were the performance scores. We had kids take a test in junior high and high school where they took their pencils and filled in the circles to make pictures. How is that for a bad idea?

[murielm99]

2. Not only that, it will create divisions between staff members.

What if one teacher gets rewarded consistently, but he or she has a more teachable group of students?

What if the principal shows favoritism, and someone gets a reward they do not deserve?

The politics is bad enough without this.

[Maria Celeste]

3. Then suggest something better

I taught for several years while getting my masters degree. Clearly *something* needs to be done with performance incentives in public education.

Once you got tenure (2 years in my case), a teacher could slack to the point of embarassment and there was nothing that could be done. Not every teacher does it, but enough do that it is more than a little embarssing.

Not damning all teachers or public education, but having been there, it really needs some sort of overhaul to bring the brightest and best back into education. Its not just pay and senority issues, but the entire system.

Working in public education was the most frustrating thing I have ever done. I finally tired of the nonsense and went elsewhere. Surprised my principal when I did, since I outlasted the average new teacher by 50%.

Sorry for the early morning rant but this is one of my hot buttons...

[elizm]

4. I've taught in public schools for 23 years..

...and I have stuck it out and haven't gone elsewhere. And I agree with the other posters that performance incentives can never be the answer. What is the answer? I don't know, but I do know that education is NOT a priority in the United States...not with legislators or the American people themselves. Until teaching begins to get the respect it deserves from our government AND the people, instead of constant bashing, we will never attract the 'best and the brightest' as you say.

[alcuno]

6. Once again, it is a fairly phoney, made-up crisis.

Surveys have shown that the vast majority of parents are satisfied with their own schools, yet think poorly of public education. Why is that?

I have a student teacher who was educated in India. Sure everyone in the Indian schools is going gangbusters, but that's because everyone is not in school. The main source for schools is private, not public, and you don't have a right to a free public education.

I recognize that a lot of people who leave do so because they are frustrated. It's not the right job for them.

[LWolf]

17. Well then, let me push it.

If you want to create a systemic change, to really make a difference where you see a problem, go to the source/s.

I do not believe that there is a cause and effect relationship between tenure and performance.

I also don't believe that we serve our profession's best interest, public education's best interest, or our nation's best interest by clinging to the lowest common denominator; and that's what the "carrot/stick, bribe/punish" philosophy of behavior modification is. The lowest level input = the lowest level output.

If you really want to change something, look for the actual source/s. I don't believe that there is just one reason for teacher or student "failure," and I don't believe that there is one simple solution. Why is it that some tenured teachers seem to "slack off?"

Here are a few ideas to investigate. I'm not saying that any one of these things is "it," but that they are all factors:

* remove a threat and behavior responding to a threat no longer has to continue. See "carrot/stick;" I don't choose to perpetuate a system that operates based on threats or bribes.

* exploitation: with tenure, a teacher can begin to say "no" when pressured to spend all those extra unpaid hours doing things over and above the primary job, so that the system doesn't have to pay for the services they expect.

* politics: The stupider and more damaging the mandates/policies, the less teachers feel the need to "buy into" them, and the more they "comply" without feeling the need to achieve whatever agenda is.

* disempowerment: The more you disempower teachers by setting them up to fail and playing the blame game, the more you drown the passion and commitment to making a difference.

*burnout: When teachers have been through new "programs," new leadership, reforms, etc., a few times, they see through the hype, and they know that: 1. There will not be enough sustained support to make any new thing successful. 2. Someone above the school site level is going to profit from the new policy, leaving people on the site holding the bag when things go wrong. 3. All of the rhetoric, buzzwords, and mandates are bullshit; the agenda is to spend the resources on someone's campaign contributor, somewhere down the line.

*cynicism: We know what it would take to REALLY serve our students, to TRULY make sure every student achieved their potential. And we know that the public, and their representatives, are not willing to face the real sources of failure, and the real solutions that will work for all.

I don't believe that bribing teachers to overlook all of the above with the possible promise of merit pay, or threat of less pay, will make the difference we all want to see in the end.

What will make the difference?

1. Honesty in advertising: First of all, let's all stop pretending that all human beings are equally able to achieve proficiency at all things humans are able to do. Then let's stop pretending that the only factors that affect learning outcomes are the teacher and the approved curriculum. Let's admit all the outside factors that are out of teachers' control. Then let's quit pretending that all people learn the same way, at the same pace, and the same things. Let's leave the factory model behind once and for all.

2. Honesty in goals: If you want the best, act like it. Give your teachers pay commensurate with all of the hoops they jump through to complete and maintain credentials, including career earnings. Give them the working conditions and support that allow them to do their best. Give them the professional respect to allow them to make professional decisions about curriculum design, instructional methodology, and the resources they use to deliver instruction.

3. When someone is failing, don't engage in circular blame games. Engage in in-depth investigations into the primary sources of failure, and go after those. Provide the resources and support to actually meet the need, not to pretend that you are doing so.

4. Restructure classrooms and schools so that teachers do not work in isolation, but with teaching partners, and in teams.

I could go on, but I hope you get my point; if you really want to make positive changes, don't join the blame game, and don't support the lowest common denominator.

[AngryAmish]

5. Why not?

Are teachers as a group incapable of handling competition that every person in the business world is subjected to every day? Are teachers so dishonest that any pressure will cause them to throw over all morals and cheat?

The only way things get better at any human endeavor is when one can test the results of change. Teaching is no different. People for years said one could not test the results of policing. We know differently because when individual officers are responsible for any rise in crime rates in an area they go down.

[alcuno]

7. It's not the business world, so your comparison falls apart.

We've seen what running the government like a business can bring. No thanks. I don't like to reward incompetence.

[socrates42]

8. you all need to understand,...

teachers may as well live in communist russia. to say teaching isn't business is absolutely naive. to say science teachers deserve the same pay as other teachers ignores the fact that they could make twice what other teachers do in the "business" world.

something needs to be done.....way to go denver!

chris g (secondary science teacher 8+ years)

[alcuno]

9. I'm a secondary math teacher and I've been to communist Russia.

The educational system there is pretty bad with some moderate success. It's nothing like ours. Your post shows a degree of ignorance and naivete that is surprising in a science teacher.

[livvy]

13. Using your idea then....

I guess elementary teachers should earn more than middle or high school teachers since we have a minimum of 6 preps a day, including science.
hmmmmm???

[proud2BlibKansan]

22. Yes yes!

And damnit I want pay for walking the kids down the hall, reminding them to go take their medicine, making sure they get on the right bus at the end of the day AND I have for years said we need combat pay for taking them on field trips.

[AwakeAtLast]

19. And I as a Music Teacher,

could also garner more money in private lessons. I still do not advocate this terrible plan.

Did you mean to offend all other teachers on this board?

[newyawker99]

21. Hi socrates42!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. Because the competition is not fair, that's why not

I teach in the 'inner city'. 10% of my students are homeless. 20% have parents in prison. 10% (in my class) do not speak English. In our school, that figure is 50%. 100% of my kids are on free lunch, which means their families live at or below federal poverty standards. Now do you really think it's fair to make me compete against a suburban teacher who doesn't have any of these kinds of kids?

The other issue is how do you reward staff members who are not classroom teachers, like counselors and therapists?

In my district, we have an incentive program that rewards us for things like 100% of parents attending parent teacher conferences and student attendance above 97%. That is a lot more fair than looking at test scores or achievement. And every certified staff member gets the incentive when the school meets the criteria.

I am anxious to see the details of Denver's program.

[msongs]

11. sure hope you do not go near public schools because

you said:

"incapable of handling competition that every person in the business world is subjected to every day"

when we can fire the students and administrators as well as the teachers, then we will have a "business" model.

school is not the business world. the students are not equivalent to trained and motivated employees who are paid. there are variables like the parents, the home life, the income level, and so forth, that cannot be adjusted by the teachers.

If you want to send us all students who have been interviewed, pre-qualified and screened, with high motivation, good family support, no income or socially related negative issues, then you will see school results rise.

how about merit ratings for parents and families....and politicians?

Msongs
www.msongs.com/political-shirts.htm

[AngryAmish]

12. This is such nonsense

What I am advocating is making good teaching practices testable (through whatever means) and replicable.

Also, you are using my words out of context. The question was a rhetorical. Successful fields of human endeavor outside the business world use competition and testing of results to improve practices and outcomes.

If one is an engineer building a bridge for a state government, you are not in the business field. However there are testable measurements of if you are doing your job well- of course the ultimate testable aspect is whether or not the bridge stands.

What has to be done is coming up with a fair way to test individual teachers across dissimilar situations. It would not be fair to test a teacher who teaches in an awful neighborhood with a teacher who whose kids all have college graduate parents using the same metrics. But fair metrics can be determined (with the unions help because it is a term and condition of employment) and should be used.

[alcuno]

14. We have that. It's called a performance evaluation.

Administrators come into my classroom and evaluate my teaching. That's very different from giving a test to the students to evaluate the teaching. My principal talked with a young man the other day about his scores from the ISAT last year. Question: "What happened during the test last year?" Answer: "I just guessed because I didn't feel like doing it."

If an employee is not doing his/her job, you get to fire them. Who do I get to fire? No one. Oh sure, they can be failed, but they'll still show up for school every day. Try firing an employee and have him/her continue to return. Free public education is the RIGHT of every child. Having a job is not.

It's not anything like a business.

[Rose Siding]

16. If an engineer is building a bridge for a state govt...

and does it well, her teacher should be rewarded.

Standardized testing does not reflect a teacher's ability or success.

[1monster]

15. I'm a substitute teacher, and as such am a nothing as far as pay, benefits

respect, seniority, etc., concerned, subs are so low on the totem pole in this area, that we cannot even get unemployment should our jobs end for no fault of our own. We are considered "on call" employees even if we work every school day of the school year for years running.

Those of us who sub every day are in for seventy-five to one hundred and fifty teachers a year. We can tell quite early in the day whether we are subbing for a great teacher, an average teacher, a mediocre teacher, or a poor teacher.

However, even the best teachers can have a class that is extremely poor and the worst teachers can have a class that is extremely good.

In the better schools or better classes, there seems to be a level of cooperation between all of the teachers in the grade level and/or the subject.

The administration of the school has a tremendous impact on the classroom experience. In one school where the population is mostly from upper middle and wealthy neighborhoods, the admin is slack in the discipline area, and it shows up in the classrooms. The teachers cannot count on effective discipline and follow through from the administration policies. In another school where the population comes from some very rough neighborhoods, the administration's discipline policy is very strong and teachers can expect effective backup.

Teaching is a coooperative endevor, not an individual pursuit. It does take a village and the most effective schools are run with this in mind.

Incentive and merit pay will not solve the problems of our schools. All teachers need to get the respect and pay that will attract more and better teachers to the job. When that happens, the poor teachers will be weeded out early.

Teachers also need to know that the school administration and school board will implement the policies necessary to make school a positive experience for both teachers and students.

[AwakeAtLast]

18. People in the business world are paid more.

Besides that, our business is CHILDREN! We have no control over the quality of their upbringing, which we all know is a major contributor to school performance.

If this gets put into practice, no teacher in their right mind would ever think of going into lower socio-economic schools, regardless of incentives.

Pay all teachers what they are worth (or even a fraction of it) and all schools will improve, guaranteed!

[many a good man]

20. Everybody LISTEN to the teachers

As a former teacher and someone married to a public school teacher, I can say that everyone is out of touch except for the teachers themselves. No one knows better than the teachers and no one knows worse than school administrators, parents, and politicians.

It takes a village to raise a child. All the news stories and statistics you hear about in our society become flesh and blood in front of our teachers. Politics and top-down reforms routinely result in just more obstacles to doing their jobs well. Pay for performance comes down to scapegoating people who have less and less control over the situation with each passing year.

Society must work toward a stable and secure home environment for all children and give more value to education. Introduce corporate-level IT systems in the classrooms. Demand less BS from teachers and give them more time to just teach. Fewer, smaller classes and assistants in each room. Encourage charter schools where schools can design bottom-up a curriculum that works better for their students than the official school board curriculum designed by idiots. These are just SOME of the things we would do if we were REALLY concerned about education in this country.