Merit Pay Finale

Watching the above video of President Obama (then on the campaign trail) brings up some other interesting points about Merit Pay. He opposes the idea as it is traditionally thought of: bonuses for teachers whose students provided high standardized test scores. He is for Merit Pay if there is a more integrated approach to the system of performance evaluation (such as some methods described in earlier posts). Things like degrees earned, extra education sought, and incentives for teachers who work in undesirable areas (inner city or rural outlying areas)- all this in addition to raises for teachers across the board and the creation of a “career ladder” for teachers to work towards.

I think his ideas are great, his execution may be lacking what with the state of the country he inherited in such disrepair- so many things seemingly far worse than we thought. I hope that one day some changes can be made and possibly a fair Merit Pay system implemented. There are inequities that need to be addressed, for example a scenario that involved an extraordinary teacher being paid the same as a lazy one, simply because they have equal seniority.