Merit Pay - Pay for Performance - Evaluations

First time blogging at 6:45am but I couldn't sleep last night because too many things were going through my head.  The biggest of those was the new push for education to move to Merit Pay or in other words Pay for Performance.  This also ties in teacher and principal evaluations as part of the process.

Most business's I would assume have some sort of merit pay system set up and I'm sure it does a great job of holding employees accountable.  I like a system of merit pay.  If I do well in my job - I should get rewarded for it.  I also like the idea of Merit Pay for Educators, but on different terms then what it looks like it's being set up for.

In education (unlike most other business's) is a third variable.  A human variable.  Current proposals for merit pay in education include a factor of student performance (based on his/her score on a standardized test).  This I'm not for.  A third party (human variable) exists here.  A teachers pay could then be influenced by a student's score on a standardized test.  Before I go further I do need to point out why I believe merit pay is good for education or at least mention how it could be used.

Merit pay for education should mirror that of merit pay for other industries.  If you work hard, improve instruction, go the extra mile, and have good evaluations - I'm totally for it.  Teachers are contracted for a certain amount of time during the day, and most teachers work much more than that.  I'm definitely for a system that rewards teachers for extra time spent improving instruction.  I'm definitely for a system that rewards teachers whom continually get good evaluations.  I'm definitely for a system that provides an incentive to keep great teachers in classrooms.

As for the student performance on a standardized test (this test being the State Assessment) I'm not for it and  here are my reasons why.  First of all the State Assessment carries no weight for a student.  In other words the score that a child receives on this test does not affect them in anyway, shape or form.  It does however provide valuable feedback to educators.  It gives us a target point at which the student is performing.  It tells us what a student struggles in.  But in terms of the student's report card or transcript - it is not noted.  The student can perform poorly on the test and still be aloud to participate in extra-curriculars.  My point - the test does not affect them.

My second reason (and I think I've touched on it in a previous blog) is the fact that the schools have no control over what happens to a child at home.  I've always said that if a child does not receive something at home that the school should do everything in it's power to provide it to them.  For instance - a child not cared for at home, a child whom's parents are going through a divorce, a child whom is abused at home, a child that has been shown no discipline, a child that lost a loved one, etc etc.  I could go on here.  These are factors that affect a student's performance in school.  The school can do everything in it's power to create an atmosphere that is caring, and one that is conducive to learning.  We can also provide an atmosphere which is safe, but when it comes down to it - if a student does not want to perform well on that 1 test, or if a student has so much going on in his/her life at home that taking that test is the last thing on their minds - they won't perform well.  I just don't think you can use this as a factor for merit pay or as a factor for letting teachers/principals go.

So I will close with this.  Merit Pay - Pay for Performance (in my mind) is a good thing.  Rewarding people for doing good and punishing people for doing bad is how we progress in the world.  We need to do something to keep great teachers in schools.  We just need to make sure that educators are measured by the right parameters and not something that is ultimately out of their control.

Technology in Education

It seems as though everytime we turn around there is a new gadget that we want.  We save money, and finnally when we buy the gadget and bring it home - there is something better.  The world in which we live in now days is changing at a very rapid pace.  This holds true in the Education World as well. 

Should we buy laptops or should we by IPADS?   I can tell you that every school in the nation has asked themselves this in the last year or two.  I know that some schools chose laptops and others have broke down and bought IPADS.  Whichever a school chooses, you can bet that it takes a big chunk of the budget.  Griggs County Central has purchased both IPADS and Computers.

I have never personally been a fan of buying something that just comes out.  I like to wait for the second generation.  Usually by this time - the company has had a chance to work out any bugs that came out with the first release.  This year we bought IPADS for our teachers.  We are banking on the fact that they will help facilitate better instruction.  Not that we have an instruction problem at all, but the possibilities with IPADs aiding instruction are almost limitless.  We hope that in the future we can start putting some IPADs into the hands of our students.  We need to understand however, that having IPADs just to have IPADs will not get us anywhere.  We need to look at the IPAD as an extention to student learning and a tool that can help bring out creativity and imaginaiton in our students.

It's not just IPADs and Apple Products.  Promethean Boards are getting more advanced.  Touch Screen - Gorilla Glass is starting to show up everywhere.  This is what you essentially use on IPADs, and other touch-screen devices...................I think :(.  I'm not a tech expert, but sometimes I pretend.

So when should a school decide to buy and when should a school decided wait?   This is a golden question.  Complacency is a bad word in my vocabulary - so I've never been a fan of waiting, however schools need to do a feasibility study first.  Schools need to ask the question...how will this affect our students.  Schools should ask this in every decision that is make.  If the question yields more positives than negatives and the money is available - it's a no brainer.  If students are going to need it when they leave school - then we need to give them the training before it's too late.  After all - our job is to prepare children for what comes next right? 

So bottom line - technology contiues to grow at rapid pace.  If we don't stop to check it out - we may just leave our students behind.  We don't always have to jump on a technology just because its new, but what we do need to do - is to be open to change.

That is all for now - I'm going to go check out the IPhone 5 - I heard its pretty cool.