http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/03/17/MNQC1ID1OM.DTL&type=education
This is a short article that pretty much says it all: if you pay teachers more money they teach better and kids learn more. It's kind of stating the obvious, but this article points out that these seem to ring true in countries that are doing a better job of educating their children than the U.S. In an exam for 15-year-olds, the Programme for International Student Assessment found that the U.S. currently ranks 14th in reading, 17th in science and 25the in math out of 34 countries selected for review.
Andreas Schleicher, the exam director, notes that while the U.S. has one of the world's most expensive school systems (in terms of dollars per student) its teachers rank as some of the most underpaid. It does not surprise me that teachers who are not given incentives (namely $) do not teach up to their potential. A report that Schleicher co-authored said the U.S. must increase teacher salary and found the following four factors critically important in student performance:
1. Teachers are drawn from a selective pool similar to other professional groups
2. Higher teacher salaries are more effective than smaller class size in determing student performance
3. Teachers are continually being trained and developing their skills
4. Instructors are held accountable for student performance, but tests are just one measure of that performance
In short, the article found that countries with high performing students, "set high requirements to become a teacher, hold those who become one in high esteem and offer the instructors plenty of support."
This is definitely what needs to happen. But I see a big obstacle preventing the advancement of this idea, and it’s teachers themselves. Teacher unions! What a terrible group of well-intentioned people. From what I understand, and I admit my understanding is very limited (so feel free to set me straight if I’m wrong), teacher unions are responsible for tenure and experience-based pay. Forget about increasing teacher salaries when the best new teachers in the nation can take their much-needed expertise to any school and get paid less than existing teachers without it. There’s no competition and therefore no competitive pay, and universally increasing salaries simply to inspire more effective teaching will never happen. Again, I’m speculating.
ReplyDeleteAmen Kevy, it's high time the teachers as a group change their paradigm. Perhaps it is time to go on strike...against the unions.
ReplyDeleteLike most bloated bureaucracies, unions have their share of slef-preservationist greedy lazy ne'er-do-wells giving their members a bad name. But don't forget what the unions have done in the past: 8 hour work days (instead of 12-16), five day work-week (instead of six) sick pay, maternity leave, child labor laws,safe working conditions, minimum wage, health care benefits, collective bargaining rights, paid vacations, etc. Would our workplaces be better off without these protections, provisions? Maybe rather than being eliminated, they just need to be reinvented, revamped and remodeled so they truly meet the needs of working people.
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