http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2011/07/duncan_teacher_salaries_should.html
On Friday, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan called for higher pay for teachers, more accountability, and higher entrance criteria at education schools. And in order to make this happen, he stressed, the nation is going to have to think critically about our current hiring practices, job security, and benefits in the field.
In other words, we need to raise the stakes for public school teachers.
About a month ago, I would have seen this news, reported in Education Week, as purely positive. But the class on school reform I am currently taking makes this news more nuanced for me. It’s not that I do not want stronger teachers or incentives for hard work. I truly believe that these measures will do good things for our nation’s students. Still, I think we need to consider carefully how we evaluate our teachers and structure compensation modules.
When we place a disproportionate focus on test scores in a school environment – and then award money accordingly – we can create a climate that does not focus on complex and meaningful learning. As Alfie Kohn argues in a recent opinion piece featured online in the Washington Post, some teachers in struggling schools that aggressively and sometimes obsessively pursue gains on standardized tests reduce their classrooms to relentless test-taking drills. There is little room for a constructive approach to education in these settings.
It’s just something to think about.
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