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Does Better Pay Mean Better Teachers?
Filed under: Opinions
Is teacher pay the key to improving public schools? Image: sxc.hu
The brainchild of Zeke M. Vanderhoek, a 32-year-old Yale graduate, the school will be publicly funded for everything except the building, which is being leased using a combination of public school financing, a charter school grant and a small amount of private donations. The 120 fifth graders who will show up in September are mostly from low-income Hispanic families and were chosen via a lottery that gave preference to low academic performers who live in the neighborhood.
While the students may not be all that unique, Vanderhoek believes their new teachers are. Chosen after an exhaustive cross-country search, his "dream team" consists of eight educators who have demonstrated a high "engagement factor" with their students, are skilled at dealing with potential trouble-makers and, most importantly, are highly enthusiastic about their subject matter.
"The idea is relatively simple," says Vanderhoek. "The key to educating anybody, but particularly important for low-income students, is a great teacher. The idea behind the school is that to attract and retain great teachers you have to do what you do in any other profession to attract and retain talent, and that is pay for it."
Vanderhoek himself will earn $90,000 as the principal of the new school and the teachers will be expected to perform duties above and beyond what is normally asked of them. With no assistant principals, substitutes or deans on staff, they will work longer hours, more days, and have more students than in a typical New York City fifth-grade class. In addition, these teachers will not be eligible for the same retirement benefits as members of the city's teachers union.
But there is another important distinction between these teachers and other public school teachers: Equity Project teachers are eligible for bonuses based on school-wide performance and can be fired at will. I am all for paying good teachers a good salary, but is it possible that those last two stipulations alone might be enough to transform our public schools?
Vanderhoek believes this model of teacher compensation could be applied nationwide using existing public funding. But first, his dream team must prove themselves. "I have tremendous confidence that the staff is going to be excellent," he says. "But we will see."
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
6-09-2009 @ 4:10PM
SKL said..."Equity Project teachers are eligible for bonuses based on school-wide performance and can be fired at will. I am all for paying good teachers a good salary, but is it possible that those last two stipulations alone might be enough to transform our public schools?"
Not when you have to compete with the benefits of staying in the teacher's union - basically lifelong security regardless of effort.
If these teachers turn out more competent kids while managing larger classrooms and using less support staff, they are more than earning their salary. They will reduce the need to throw money at tutoring programs, the costs of repeating grades, alternative education offerings, graduation incentives, etc., and will result in adults who pay taxes rather than burden government programs. If done correctly, it will more than pay for itself.
The only problem I see is that it will be impossible to duplicate everywhere, at least in this generation, because they recruited the best teachers from around the country. Until they figure out a way to ramp up the qualifications of most teachers, the impact will be limited.
Reply
6-10-2009 @ 12:58AM
damoki said...SKL makes an excellent point; simply offering more money without screening for excellence in a number of critical areas will only accomplish a pitiful return on investment with rare exception. I support any reasonable exploration into educational options and styles, even if they cost more in the beginning.
I am also a great supporter of teachers who rise to the occasion; I am not such a fan of unions when they become so powerful, their purpose overshadows that of the members: let us guard against abuse from all sides.
I believe SKL's comment about not changing things in one generation may be true... sadly. One of the reasons is the lack of parental inclusion in the process. Maybe the brilliant teachers will be able to instruct many students better, but without parental support and participation, potentials will be restricted.
The idea of paying for positive result and giving the boot for poor performance is... wait a minute... that sounds remarkably like someone being responsible for their actions and benefiting or suffering as a result… sounds about right to me!
DaMoKi
6-09-2009 @ 9:15PM
Shay said...I think if the teachers gets better pay, then yes they would be better teachers. There are some teachers who thinks more about making more money than teaching children. Our children are failing for one, parents are depending on others to teach our children and two, some teachers feel since they're pay isn't rising enough, then why should they waist time and teach? This is why I teach my child at home as well as he is getting taught at school. We all need to stop being lazy and think about our kids futures!
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6-10-2009 @ 12:13PM
soles said...I just moved out of Delaware because they are using segregation to keep white kids out of classes when they report being racially targeted for daily threats and assaults.
DE spends in the top 10 for education and ranks 28th, down from 25th in the Morgan Quinto rankings.
We reward poorly performing schools by giving them more resources while charter schools perform better with less resources. It is the bloated administrations that take away from classrooms getting resources. They ask homeowners for more money every chance they get and get to hold multiple referendums until they pass the increase.
Every child should get a voucher and schools should have to compete for these vouchers, just like things are in the real world, except politics.
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6-10-2009 @ 12:48PM
bob said...I am a teacher. Dispite my union's rhetoric, I get paid way more than I deserve for the amount of work I am expected to perform according to my contract. I believe in capitalism and would love to see our educational system taken back by private interprise. Let schools compete with each other for students and teachers like the private sector. Being a public school teacher I also home school my children. I got into teaching 15 years ago when I really thought I could make a difference. Now I am stuck in a dying system just like our students. I would love to teach a school like the one mentioned in the article.
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