Social and Cultural Foundations of American Education/Accountability/Outstanding Schools

How should society reward outstanding schools and teachers? Rewarding schools and teachers is absolutely important to ensure that students and teachers reach their maximum learning limits. Victor Lavy a professor for economics states “improve the current education system by clarifying teacher goals and by attracting and retaining the most productive teachers.” In the United States most college graduates with a master degree do not pursue teaching because pay is not high enough. Many graduates with the same degree make more money. Is money the only motivating factor for schools systems and teachers? It is debatable and unfortunately there is no simple solution. Teaching is one of the most valuable professions for a society and it is a shame that we do not have “brightest” teaching our children. As a teacher states from Florida “Money shouldn’t be the only reason why your in it, the time is not equal to the money received” (Freeman, 2006) I think teachers need to be rewarded yearly with rewards for achievements made throughout the year. Research indicates that reward systems can be counter active and create bad morale (Dee & Keys 2004). All teacher unions look down upon performance based pay. The main reason is because it is very hard and expensive to accurately evaluate student teacher progress (Lavy, 2007). Throughout the research it was very difficult to find information on rewarding schools and teachers. I find this hard to believe but maybe because it is not done enough. Currently teachers are rewarded by their years of service and education.

Performance-based Pay
Performance based pay is a way to reward teachers individually and/or as a team for different goals that are set forth. Research varies when it comes down on what should be done to reward schools. It seems the operative word is performance. “What type of performance is the school system looking for?” Performance based pay can be many things to include “… attendance, grade retention, drop out rates, or performance based on tests.”(Lavy 2007)  There is indication in the research that teachers do not want to be rated in this way.

Some teachers fear that the impact of socio-economic status on test scores will prevent them from getting a bonus. There was a study done in 1946, 1981 and 1995 that opposes the concern of money. When teachers were asked what motivates them the reply was “interesting work” and not “money” (Diamantes 2004)  Performance based pay only pays for improvements and nothing “below threshold performance”  (Lavy, 2007)  In other studies performance based pay is also called merit pay (Dee & Keys, 2004). “Merit based pay which is defined broadly here as any systems of teachers’ compensation that explicitly reward better performance, has been perceived as a potential remedy for the flaws of the single salary system” (Dee& Keys 2004) These pay systems do not last long mainly because of the opposition of them. “…failure of merit pay is mainly due to teacher and union oppositions”(Dee & Keys 2004) In Dee and Key’s research it states students with merit pay teachers should have higher gain scores. However again there is criticism that this will make teachers not work together as a team and not share ideas. Education Commissioner John Wynn states “As it is with any other profession, compensation for teachers should be based in part, on their results, talent and expertise.” (Freeman 2006) Private schools are 35% more likely to use merit reward systems where public schools use a merit systems only 5% of the time. (Lavy, 2007) Lavy implies that this is because public schools have to prove their scores because students have to pay to go there. In public schools it is different because where you live is usually where you go to school there is not too much choice involved.

Evaluation Processes
The biggest problem with rewards and incentives for teachers is the evaluation process. In Tennessee they launched a “Career Ladder Program”. In this program the teachers' pay was based on different criteria. The “program blended salary rewards with professional responsibilities” (Dee & Keys, 2004). It was geared toward increasing employee morale in that it did not place a cap on the amount of rewards that could be given out (Dee & Keys, 2004). This makes it so all teachers are striving to do better and meet current goals. This is not a program that is geared to the top 1% or one teacher of the year. The only problem was that the principal was responsible for ensuring that the teachers got certification according to the state board and they only had a few hours of training on evaluating the teachers (Dee & Keys,2004). Due to evaluation being subject the teachers argued that there is room for bias. Another problem with incentive-based programs is that there are so many goals in education. Not just in academics but drop-out rates, violence, and so on. It is very hard to get all parties to agree on goals (Lavy, 2007). The evaluation process is extremely difficult to do well because all things must be considered.

Rewards Based on Experience and Training
The current reward for teaching now is years of service and the amount of education that the teacher has. Rewards now include a small annual increase for each year of service. I do mean small. Mostly they pay you a little more for what type of degree you have bachelors, master doctorate. Dee & Keys states that “… the ‘single salary approach’ was widely adopted in the first half of the century, partly as a response of capriciousness and out right discrimination that had existed under more discretionary forms of compensation. It is very hard to reward teachers because of the continued pattern that was started with equal rights and equal pay. Unfortunately in research voters are not giving raises to teachers due to low over all academic performance on standardized tests (Lavy, 2007). It is believed that voters would vote in favor for incentive money for schools and teachers that are performing above average (Lavy, 2007).

Conclusion
In conclusion, it is important to reward teachers. Hopefully one day all teachers, administrators, school systems, and voters will come up with an amiable solution. Unfortunately teachers and school systems are stuck with minimal rewards. Society needs to take a more active approach in increasing rewards. Public schools need qualified teachers and this is directly related to the reward system. There has got to be a better equation for Performance based pay. The pay should be calculated by many factors including individual goals. Hopefully everyone will take the time an evaluate what is most important. The United States needs to step it up a notch and put education first with funding. Rewards are important to recruiting qualified staff for schools.

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