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Essays on the pros of merit pay for teachers
Essays on the pros of merit pay for teachers
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President Barrak Obama’s administration has come up with a solution to the teacher merit pay problem. The administration has stated that this program will give teachers the incentive they need to perform at the top notch quality the nation wants (Gratz). Teachers all around the United States have had issues with the new proposal but they have also found it very beneficial. Merit pay for teachers will largely be based off test scores, which means the students will have a large impact on the teacher’s career. So the question is will this be good for teachers or will it harm their careers? Although this seems like it could be beneficial to the students and the staff, the long term effects could be disastrous on the entirety of the whole educational system.
Merit Pay “a raise in pay based on a set of criteria set by the employer” (Secretary of Labor Perez) has been on many teachers minds as of late. Many questions were raised when the topic came up for debate at the NEA (National Education Association) meeting two years ago. President Obama created a Race to the Top fund that raised 4.3 billion dollars to create the Merit pay program (Rosales). This program will help states be able to have the funds to provide good teachers with the bonuses they deserve and the salaries they need. It is common knowledge that teachers are severely underpaid. This program will create new opportunities for teachers to get the pay they deserve. Also, this program will make sure the teachers focus on being more productive to receive these bonuses. Teachers must think creatively and entice the students to want to do well on their tests.
The premise for this whole ordeal is to get America back on top of the education race. China is rapidly progressing fast...
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...heir students, the nation should really make sure the leaders of the future have more incentive to work at a good rate. The New York Times wrote an article about how teachers in their major suburban areas are making six figures. The requirements though are they have to be the most experienced at their job and have the most education (Fessenden and Barbanel).
In short, teacher merit pay will have great causes but not enough positive benefits. The Obama Administration needs to set something up to where paying teachers is on a fair and safe system. If President Obama is not willing to proceed with this fundamental program and fix it then it will be the duty of the Congress and the net Presidential Administration to take on this great challenge. It may still be an issue in years to come but hopefully the problem with teacher merit pay will be fixed in a timely manner.
The oversite committee then evaluates the success of their money allocation and incentivize the success of the public school’s education. “Americans do not appear ready to pay the price.” (Barber, p. 215) Money is the most powerful motivator, and if the success of school districts reaps the benefits of more financial resource, educators will fight to be the best. This new desire to be the best, is possible with the equalization of opportunity from the allocation of funds to the poorer schools. The race to the top would already be won by the larger, richer, and more powerful school districts without those foundational funds. “Because we believe in profits, we are consummate salespersons and efficacious entrepreneurs.” (217) Barber’s essay supports the idea of incentivized results. Not only would districts compete with other schools, but their standards would be raised year after year in consequence to the oversite of the
The author states in “A New Deal for Teachers” that in America, especially in poorer school districts, teacher quality is lacking. In urban districts, out of the new teachers hired in the next three years, about half of them will quit (usually the quality ones). The recruitment of better teachers is, as the author says, the biggest problem in our education system. He states that he’s been told by urban teachers that many of their colleagues are incompetent. Contributing to this is that state requirements are very low, which allows poor quality teachers into schools. Miller explains that smart and competent people who want to be teachers, are getting more and more difficult to find. This is true mainly because there are fields of work that those
My mom would always say, “American born Chinese students have it easy in America.” One key difference between the American education system and Chinese education system is the way they are taught. Being raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, I went to school to understand the idea of analyzing and understanding concepts. After reading Only Hope, I realized that their education is based on more memorizations. To Chinese students, understand the concept and apply it is not the most important, you must just memorize it for the exam. Many parents in China would say that going on vacation and relaxing is a waste of time because they need to focus on learning. In Greenspan’s article, it mentions that a student in China is the top of her class and is fluent in English, yet she cannot go on vacation because her mother wants her to spend time learning, many students in China
Teachers and theorists have played a huge role through out history. There are those that have dedicated their lives to learning and investing in tools and strategies to help children succeed and grow with their development. There are those that have created schools, programs and set standards for teachers that are even used in todays school systems. This gives teachers the opportunity to adapt to any personality and give that child the best care and education they deserve. With that being said, there is a lot of weight that can be on a teachers shoulders but people may often overlook these very important people. The pay may not be the best in this particular field, but that is not the reason they do what they do. This specific group loves children and love what they do. The reward for them is seeing that child succeed no matter how young or small they may be. These amazing folks are sometimes even labeled heroes for the impact they can really do in a young persons life. They are changing peoples lives with the investment they make everyday. With teachers investing in children's lives in the beginning with programs like Head Start and Pre-Kindergarten, America will have and has seen brilliant and successful people.
If you ask any American High School student what’s the highest priority, you may hear some unsettling responses. In America, though education is still cherished, some worry that students are becoming less interested in the learning part of high-school and more interested in the social aspects. Now as people are seeking better ways to educate and encourage students, many are starting to look to other countries for new concepts. One country in particular that values education in a more serious way than most is China. The differences between the Chinese and American education systems are so grand that it is hard to compare. Though it is not comparable, we can discover certain aspects of each education system and how they affect the students.
Taylor Mali, an American slam poet and teacher, wrote a poem titled, “What Teachers Make”. In this poem, he rhythmically tells about other professions criticizing teachers based on their choice of occupation. While teachers will never earn six figure incomes, they make a difference. Teachers dedicate their lives to leading, inspiring, and educating future generations, all while earning meager pay. Though teachers form foundation of education, their pay does not accurately represent their skills. Using merit pay systems will properly assess how much a teacher should be paid, based on their teaching ability.
"The Single Salary Schedule for Teachers in K-12 Public Schools." Department of Economics (2002): 1-18. Print.
Chinese education is depend on the population of China and National Higher Education Entrance Examination. Compare to China, where students have no choice but well perform well on test to be attend to college. American students have more choice to college such as community college or going to four year college after high school. Even though, American education is not doing well now, but there still has some good advantages. Therefore, America can keep their good advantages and creative new way to improve their education system. It better than emulate other countries education
Some locations in the United States are trying to improve their education by adding quality teachers. A major reason why there is an achievement gap in education is because there exist a gap in teachers as well. Research has shown that teacher quality counts. Some states are seeking ways to keep quality teachers and ways to attract them. In New York City, the schools will not hire teachers that are not certified. Also, New York and California are adding some sort of incentive in public schools, to attract quality teaching to minority schools. Sometimes school add annual bonus up to $10,000 for qualify teacher to work in public school, with low achieving schools. Also, many state provide some sort of tuition assistance for teacher, but of all of the states only seven target the candidates to commit to the lower achieving schools (Olsen, 2003).
There is no more critical role in our current society than that of a teacher’s. Teachers help shape the minds of the future. Tomorrow 's engineers, scientists, politicians, and educators are all greatly influenced by today 's Instructors. Without teachers society would not be anywhere near where it is now, and only a select few would have access to learning. Sadly however important teachers are in human civilization, they are still drastically understated, unrecognized and under paid. Although some people may argue that performance pay is good, performance/merit pay is bad because it will result in teachers doing much less personalizing of the curriculum, and spending that time doing only what things need to teach in order to keep their student’s
The very first important development for a successful country is to have a respectable education system for those who need it from the first day they are born into the world. We have to instill what we want in our people to reflect how we want our to development to appear. In china their school system has more of a strict structure for example, at Harbin Number One High School; students begin school at 7:00 a.m., and remain until 8:20 p.m. The seniors, preparing for their final examinations, stay later, even until 10:00 at night.(Rybak) In a Chinese school the day are much longer than an American school day. This means that Chinese student spend a lot more time in school which bring us to conclusion that Chinese are more advantaged then the American student in long run. This prepares them for college or even the young adult can be bio-lingual. Most American student usually attends school for seven hours each weekday and may forget what they have learned because it in instilled into the young adults’ heads like the Chinese do with their students.
Kohanim, Jordan and Ashley Ulrich. "Teachers: No Merit to Merit Pay Arguments." Atlanta Journal-Constitution Website. 28 February 2010. Web. .16 November 2010
In the race to be the best, China is clearly outperforming the United States. China has strong economic fundamentals¬ such as “a high savings rate, huge labor pool, and powerful work ethic” (Rachman, Gideon. "Think Again: American Decline). Their economy has grown an astonishing 9-10% over the past thirty years; almost double of what it used to be decades ago. China is also the “world’s greatest manufacturer and its greatest market” (Rachman). The continuing growth of China's economy is a source of concern for not only the U.S. but surrounding nations as well. One could argue that the U.S. need not worry about China’s growth because of the spread of globalization and that western ideologies would influence China to turn to democracy. Yet China has still managed to “incorporate censorship and one party rule with continuing economic success” (Rachman) and remains a communist country. Hypothetically, even if China does resort to a democratic state, this does not gua...
Duke, Daniel L., ed. Incentive Pay and Career Ladders For Today's Teachers. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1990. 42-241. Grand Rapids Community College Database . Web. 6 Apr. 2014. .
Within most countries, students strive to become doctors, engineers, lawyers, etc. Education in China requires students to attend school for 9 years without any objection. In the United States, Americans are encouraged to go to school. The government upholds the "no child left behind" policy which mandates students to attend school for at least 12 ye...