Yesterday we looked at the pre-school, charter school, and magnet school elements of Eliot Culter’s education reform blue print. Today we will dissect the rest of Cutler’s plan.
Teacher Compensation
Few issues are as hotly contested in education reform as teacher compensation. Mention charter schooling and you might be in for a lively debate. Mention linking teacher pay to student test scores and you might end up in a fist fight. The LA Times series “Grading the Teachers” has created a large controversy in and out of education circles. The United Teachers of LA has scheduled a protest for September 14th outside the Times’ office. There are rumors a sit-in demonstration at the Times’ is being planned as well. These “value-added” assessments are only evaluations, they do not impact a teacher’s pay. So when Cutler says “Let’s start to look at how much a student is improving each year and reward those teachers, teams and schools that are improving student progress,” you can expect he’s going to ruffle some feathers.
Many agree that the tenure model of compensation is outdated. The two upcoming generations of teachers are less likely to settle down in one place than previous generations. Rather than clawing their way up the ladder, Generations X and Y would rather keep moving to the next big opportunity or experience. Even the AFT has said that “the traditional salary schedule does not reward additional skills and knowledge that benefit children…does not respond to market forces…nor does it provide incentives for teachers to assume differentiated roles.” In a recent survey 47% of residents polled opposed the idea of teacher tenure. Only 25% continued to favor it. Teachers on the other hand supported tenure-based pay by 48%. Support for basing at least part of a teacher’s pay on student academic progress was 49% among residents, while opposition was 25%. Teachers opposed the idea by 63%. Only 24% supported it.
There are a myriad of reasons why a system of teacher performance pay will or will not work. It would be no easy task to create a system that rewards teachers fairly. How would such a system take into account the effects of just one disruptive student in the classroom? Could it account for the teacher who stays late tutoring? What about the teacher who helps a shy child break out of their shell through theater? This is not to say that such a system could not be created. This just illustrates how complex a task may be. There are various systems out there to explore, some more successful than others. Performance data will be used to “inform ‘compensation, promotion and retention’” in 55 out of the 82 districts that signed on to Maine’s Race to the Top plan. Given the how the RttT turned out for Maine, is there much hope they would craft a successful alternative pay model? The “stake-holder panel” created for the Race is still operating however. The panel must create a system for evaluating teachers and principals by July1, 2011. After the group has completed its task, the framework could be in place for linking teacher pay to this evaluation model, given the right push from the Legislature.
Performance pay systems can be costly.Denver, Colorado received its funding from a $25 million property-tax increase. The TEEG program in Texas cost $300 million over three years and their new District Awards for Teacher Excellence (DATE) will receive $200 million in funding annually. In this economic climate, ideas like that would likely face stiff opposition from voters.
If such a model is put in place student progress should only be part of the formula. (As a side not, I do not believe current methods of student testing are accurate measures of a child’s knowledge or their ability to apply it.) The method that Cutler hints at, rewarding teachers, teams, and schools is more promising than simply handing out bonuses to individual teachers only. This can alleviate fears that individual rewards will destroy the collaborative teaching environment. Teams and schools will work together for a bonus, while individual rewards can help prevent some from coasting by on the coat tails of others.
Performance pay for teachers can be difficult territory for educations to traverse. Implementing a better form of pay for teachers rather than tenure is not impossible. To treat performance pay, however, as a cure all for educational ills is just as narrow-minded as rejecting it entirely. Time may be the only factor that will show whether Performance or Tenure Pay or some variation of both will prove to be the best method for teachers and their administrators. Both sides of the argument must be examined carefully
Extending the School Day/Year
Many schools have been exploring extending the school day or year. Maine has one of the shortest school years in the county, 175 days. The average U.S. school year is about 180 days. Our neighbors to the north, Canada, and Finland have their children in school 190 days a year. China’s students attend 225 days of school and 243 days in Japan. Many KIPP schools have longer school days and occasional Saturday classes. The spend the extra time doing activities, such as cooking, band, and foreign languages, or seeking academic assistance. That particular program costs roughly $1,110-1,500 extra per child.
Common sense might say more learning time would be good. That isn’t necessarily so. Twenty Big Macs do not equal an exquisitely prepared cut of Kobe beef. If there are problems in how we deliver information to students or the quality of that information, giving out more wont suddenly make it better. As shown by KIPP, increasing the school day or school year can be expensive. Teachers will need to be further compensated. Support staff and administration will need pay increases as well. Schools will spend more on utilities, school lunches, and fuel for transportation. Let’s address curriculum, delivery methods, and other areas first before we spend the money on increasing instructional time.
Skills Training, Technology, Professional Development, and Schools as Community Centers
Cutler advocated building Maine’s skilled workforce through school/community college/industry partnerships. This would be a worthwhile pursuit. Maine’s Career and Technical Education centers and Adult Education programs do an excellent job preparing people for post-secondary school, moving into the workforce, or moving to a higher position. Expanding these services, including partnerships with local, regional, and national businesses could yield economic benefits. Partnered businesses would know there is a trained workforce waiting for them. Then again, partnered businesses would know there are trained workers in Maine who could possibly be lured to work elsewhere.
Libby Mitchell also advocates partnering business with education.
…entrepreneurship needs to be taught in all schools. The skills it takes to run a business are the same skills it will take to be successful in this century; innovation, teamwork, and understanding opportunities from new ideas and new technologies that will arise every day.
King Middle School in Portland is a model. Business people are walking up and down the hallways, working with students. Jim Wilfong [Chairman of Innovative Applied Sciences], an experienced entrepreneur and small business advocate, offers an entrepreneurship class at Fryeburg Academy. We need business people like these in the classrooms of every school in Maine.
It is undeniable that Maine’s education technology needs attention. The one-to-one laptop program has been in schools for almost a decade. There is no better time than now to reassess what we are doing with our laptops. They are good for more than just typing papers and checking out Cracked. Lessons can be conducted completely paperless. Students can create Wikipedia entries as projects. Educators are only beginning to explore the uses of social media. We haven’t even begun to explore the possibilities. Not to mention the implications for virtual learning. Since we have already spent the money on the technology, we might as well use it to its fullest.
Increased professional development and turning schools into community centers are both interesting proposals. Increased teacher training will benefit the students in the ways you might expect. Teachers will bring new methods of instruction, technology training, and a better understanding of curriculum to the classroom.
Using schools as community centers is an idea that US Ed Sec Duncan has pushed for. “They don’t belong to you, me or the principal. They belong to the community,” Duncan said. “We need to keep schools open longer to where schools become the center of the neighborhood and part of family life. And when the family is learning together, students do very, very well.”
Matt Gagnon appeared on WVII News recently to speak about the gubernatorial candidates and their education plans. He said Cutler has given voters with a detailed explanation of education reform plans, Mitchell has defended the status quo, Paul Lepage and the other candidates haven’t said much at all. Kudos to Cutler for putting his cards on the table. They are out there for us to examine and debate. Will voters think Cutler’s ideas are feasible or desirable? Will Cutler be able to rally the Legislature to support his aims? Do Mainers think the status-quo is so bad? As with Cutler’s plans for government reform, there are more questions here than answers. There is a lot to discuss here and it is an important discussion to have. Hopefully it is one that will continue until election day.
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