Tuesday, January 24, 2012
"The Paradox of Merit Pay"
Here's quite an interesting article.
To me, it seems to present the universe of professional educators a bit like the fox guarding the hen house.
If the study is right, we're not likely to ever see improvement...
To me, it seems to present the universe of professional educators a bit like the fox guarding the hen house.
If the study is right, we're not likely to ever see improvement...
Malcolm Unwell elaborates on this story at AmericanThinker.com:
"Andrew G. Briggs, coauthor of the aforementioned study, suggests that one reason why teachers should not be considered underpaid is the relative lack of rigor of education majors compared to other subjects of study and the relatively low SAT scores of education majors. It would be tempting to simply raise teacher pay and anticipate a similar elevation in the qualifications of those who enter the profession, along with raising standards in teacher preparation at the college level. But, as Briggs recently noted in a C-SPAN appearance, in similar policy situations, promises have been made to accompany pay raises with reforms. While the pay raises materialize, he notes, reform often does not.
Briggs is right to be skeptical of promised reforms. Change cannot be effected in teacher preparation because of the deep entrenchment of the educational establishment. Education courses are indeed less rigorous than other fields. They could be made more rigorous, but the current cadre of professors and university education departments would have to be completely overhauled in order to do so."
