New York to change process for granting tenure

[Elmore Furth]

There is substantial evidence that pay for performance in teacher compensation is not consistently improving student performance. The Obama Administration's Race to the Top has this assumption built into it's structure.

An analysis of teacher pay for student performance in Portugal, where the government began tying teacher pay to student achievement showed that the goal of better student performance didn't work: "Overall, our results consistently indicate that the increased focus on individual teacher performance caused a sizable and statistically significant decline in student achievement."

Study pours cold water on performance-based teacher pay

Unfortunately there is the simplistic assumption that compensation is the primary incentive for teachers to perform at higher levels.

In the latest review of value-added assessment written by New York University economist Sean Corcoran, he examined value-added assessment in Houston and New York City. He describes a margin of error so large that a teacher at the 43rd percentile (average) might actually be at the 15th percentile (below average) or the 71st percentile (above average).

Ravitch: Why teachers should never be rated by test scores

The September 21, 2010, edition of Education Week has a story which starts:

"The most rigorous study of performance-based teacher compensation ever conducted in the United States shows that a nationally watched bonus-pay system had no overall impact on student achievement—results released today that are certain to set off a firestorm of debate."

It goes on to say:

"Nearly 300 middle school mathematics teachers in Nashville, Tenn., voluntarily took part in the Project on Incentives in Teaching, a three-year randomized experiment conducted by researchers affiliated with the National Center on Performance Incentives at Vanderbilt University.. . .The implementation of the pay program “did not set off significant negative reactions of the kind that have attended the introduction of merit pay elsewhere,” the study’s authors write. “But neither did it yield consistent and lasting gains in test scores. It simply did not do much of anything.” . . .On average, students taught by the teachers taking part in the program did not make larger academic gains than those taught by teachers in the normal wage group.The sole exception was in grade 5 in the second and third years of study. . . What’s more, many of the existing performance-pay programs studied in the United States award far smaller bonuses, and scholars have questioned whether those amounts were enough to affect a change in teacher behavior. ("Merit-Pay Model Pushed by Duncan Shows No Achievement Edge," June 9, 2010.)"

Merit Pay Found to Have Little Effect on Achievement

Then, on top of this you have the flawed methodology in the teacher assessments seen repeatedly:

http://gapersblock.com/mechanics/2010/06/04/chicago-merit-pay-program-was-not-uniquely-flawed-merit-pay-is-flawed/

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/dc-schools/were-some-dc-teacher-dismissal.html

http://www.kktv.com/home/headlines/46766127.html

http://parkwestpalazzo.blogspot.com/2010/09/flawed-teacher-performance-evaluations.html

http://www.good.is/post/ed-researchers-value-added-teacher-data-flawed/

http://educblog.wordpress.com/2009/06/11/new-report-argues-that-k-12-teacher-evaluations-are-flawed/

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced on national television last week that he would overhaul the way city teachers are granted tenure, linking their advancement to improving student test scores.

New York City teachers can win tenure after three years. Once they are granted tenure they cannot be fired without an administrative hearing. What the teachers union calls due process, Mr. Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein call a system that has protected incompetence.

"We'll do more to support teachers and reward great teaching, and that includes ending tenure as we know it," he said. Mr. Bloomberg said principals must start denying tenure unless their students have made two years of progress on state tests.

Michael Mulgrew, the president of the United Federation of Teachers, responded that principals can already deny tenure "for any reason" and that teachers "would welcome an objective tenure-granting process based on agreed-upon standards."

But the union has opposed using state test scores — the city's preferred benchmark — to measure teacher performance.

New York to change process for granting tenure

[msongs]

1. dear morons: tests only indicate STUDENT performance. geez what idiots nt