Florida to Link Teacher Pay To Students' Test Scores

[RedEarth]

HIALEAH, Fla. -- A new pay-for-performance program for Florida's teachers will tie raises and bonuses directly to pupils' standardized-test scores beginning next year, marking the first time a state has so closely linked the wages of individual school personnel to their students' exam results.

The effort, now being adopted by local districts, is viewed as a landmark in the movement to restructure American schools by having them face the same kind of competitive pressures placed on private enterprise, and advocates say it could serve as a national model to replace traditional teacher pay plans that award raises based largely on academic degrees and years of experience

Gov. Jeb Bush (R) has characterized the new policy, which bases a teacher's pay on improvements in test scores, as a matter of common sense, asking, "What's wrong about paying good teachers more for doing a better job?"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/21/AR2006032101545.html

[CBGLuthier]

1. Now if they would just do that for politicians

I know a few who would not only not be paid they would have to give some back.

[MidwestTransplant]

2. That's super smart. Now nobody will want to teach in poor districts.

[jedicord]

3. Great. Now "teach to the test" will become...

"teach to the money".

Too much emphasis on the tests. My son has to go to tutorials 2 times a week to learn how to take the test. This just happens to keep him from going to tutorials to learn how to do math (they're both on the same day after school).

But boy are the developers happy to tout the high test scores of his school! Bet he doesn't talk about the grade averages.

[Moderator]

4. DUplicate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=2181038