CON-
Cont. 1-
Encourages Cheating
Teach to test
Test = poor measuring stick
Cont. 2-
Teacher competition
Cont. 3-
Disadvantaged Students
December 2009 Public Forum
Merit plans begin with the notion that workers are not working hard enough now. Teachers and other workers find this insulting and inaccurate from the get go. Teachers, after all, are the university educated people who deliberately chose not to go into more lucrative fields at the beginning of their careers (Little 2009).
Which is why my partner and I stand in firm Negation of this month’s resolution; Resolved: That merit pay based on student achievement should be a significant component of K-12 teacher compensation in United States public schools.
We will have three main contentions to support our points: One- Merit pay encourages cheating, Two- Merit pay encourages negative teacher competition, Three- Merit pay hurts disadvantaged students.
Moving into our first contention:
Merit Pay encourages cheating. This is included but not limited to, Teaching to the test, altering tests, and test scores, as well as narrowing of the curriculum. Since merit pay is typically based on how well students do on standardized tests, teachers are going to do everything possible to get the merit pay bonus.
According to Pechthalt in 2006, “rewarding educators based on student test scores would further exacerbate the “teach to test” syndrome that has narrowed the curriculum and dulled the educational experience for students and teachers. It could also create conditions that would encourage cheating.”
Basically meaning that teachers are trying to teach to the test so that they get the reward, which means that causing curriculums to narrow and students to get less out of their education. Therefore decreasing the value of these teachers, and making the whole merit pay system pointless.
According to Clabaugh in 2009 “No sooner was NCLB in place, for instance, than we began to read of teachers and principals changing standardized test answers or cheating in some other way. Merit pay will only make that gaming worse by increasing the rewards.”
No Child Left Behind is a PERFECT example of what is going to happen if this plan is put into action. Teachers and principals are going to change test scores and answers more to make themselves, and their schools and districts to look better. The system is going to be manipulated so that a lot of teachers get the bonuses.
Moving on to our second contention:
Merit Pay encourages negative and unfair teacher competition. This will include favoritism and a “kill or be killed attitude,” Destroying teacher collaboration.
According to Blumenfield in 2009 “‘Performance pay undermines strong teacher collaboration,’ says Roger Rada, superintendant of the Oregon City (OR) School District, ‘as well as collegiality. That works against what we’re doing in Oregon City School District. Over the last two years our state assessment scores have improved dramatically. Much of that improvement can be attributed to teachers working together in professional learning communities. We don’t need teachers competing; we need them collaborating with one another.’”
Basically meaning that since teachers are going to be competing against each other, the students are ultimately going to be the ones getting cheated out of their education, and the whole system will be pointless. Teachers that work together would have better standards of teaching and their students get a better education.
It is widely accepted that the principals and superintendents will be the ones to decide which teachers will be the ones to decide who gets the bonuses. As stated in Drevitch in 2006 “What if my principal happens to like me and happens to dislike you?” asks Kathy Bourdreau, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association. Her union opposed a merit-pay system proposed by Governor Mitt Romney that relied on individual student test scores and the potentially subjective teacher evaluations. ‘Education is all about collaborative effort, but if teachers believe other teachers are getting consideration for pay based on non-objective criteria, it can create a breakdown on the team,’ says Boudreau. ‘If I’m a great teacher with great practices, I might think, ‘why would I want to share?’’”
A teacher is going to think to herself, why should I help other teachers get this bonus that I have worked so hard for? If I am an awesome teacher, why should I, who have worked so hard all of these years, help someone who isn’t as good as me? This system creates unnecessary hatred in the hearts of teachers, therefore making the system not worth it.
Moving onto our third contention:
Merit Pay hurts disadvantaged students. Teachers are going to be less willing to teach disadvantaged students that are going to be harder to have them improve or do well on test scores. They are going to want to teach and focus on the students that they KNOW are going to do well on tests. Teachers are going to want to leave schools that aren’t going to do as well on test and move to schools where they are almost guaranteed a bonus, therefore hurting the education of the students that are already disadvantaged.
According to Pechthalt in 2006 “within schools, teachers might want to teach those students whose skill levels would translate into higher test scores. Skilled, veteran teachers might be less likely to work with students with limited English proficiency or special needs children for fear their students would not test well. In fact, merit pay would create a disincentive for the very teachers we want going into the most challenging schools and communities. Such teachers might want to move to the most affluent schools because of monetary rewards would be greater. This could have a devastating impact on our poorest schools.”
Teachers aren’t going to want to accept special education and ESL classes because they know that those students won’t do as well on standardized tests. These are the positions that need the best teachers anyways! And the best teachers are going to take positions where they can help the gifted or just average students and get the bonuses!
Legend!
Introduction
Claim
Transitions
Link
Warrant
Resolution
