{"id":1027,"date":"2010-12-09T04:34:55","date_gmt":"2010-12-09T09:34:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/convergegroup\/?p=1027"},"modified":"2012-05-09T11:57:39","modified_gmt":"2012-05-09T16:57:39","slug":"merit-pay-stirs-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/convergegroup\/2010\/12\/09\/merit-pay-stirs-debate\/","title":{"rendered":"Merit Pay Stirs Debate"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Tony Bennett<\/p><\/div>\n

By Anne Carpenter<\/strong><\/p>\n

Seventy percent of Indianapolis high school students do not graduate.\u00a0 The national average is 30 percent. \u00a0In order to bridge the gap, Tony Bennett<\/a>, the state superintendent of public instruction, is fighting for merit-based pay for teachers.<\/p>\n

At its core is a notion that everyone seems to agree on: better pay for better teachers. \u00a0However, it is the finer details that seem to call in to question the future of merit pay in Indiana.<\/p>\n

What is TAP?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

A federally run and nationally recognized program, TAP<\/a> is designed to motivate teachers who perform well in the classroom.\u00a0 The system will test students annually in order to determine growth and achievement.\u00a0 Based on these scores, teachers will have the opportunity to receive bonuses.<\/p>\n

Bennett said that current standards for teacher pay are fundamentally wrong and that education reformation should begin with rewarding teachers who have successful students.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have this fundamental belief that we have a sad system when the financial highlight of a teacher\u2019s career is realized the last day they work,\u201d Bennett said.\u00a0 \u201cWe should truly recognize when a teacher hits his or her marks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turmoil Amongst Teachers<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>English teacher for 12 years and adjunct professor at Butler University<\/a>, Jannine Campbell said that our education system is broken and reform is necessary.\u00a0 She is just not convinced testing and merit pay will solve the problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re testing our kids to death to see if they can reach some magical number on a test,\u201d Campbell said.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019ll just be, \u2018Can you do well on this test?\u2019 and that in my opinion does not equate to learning.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Currently, teachers can count on receiving higher paychecks if they have more years in the classroom and a higher education degree.\u00a0\u00a0 Because of tenure and detailed evaluations, it is difficult to remove ineffective teachers from the classroom.\u00a0 In order for a true educational reformation to occur, there must be a system in place to remove an ineffective teacher, Bennett said.<\/p>\n

Linda Rollings, English department chair at Pike High Schoo<\/a>l, said that merit-based pay might force teachers to evaluate their own teaching styles and influence on students.<\/p>\n

However, she also feels that they may be doing so for the wrong reasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith merit-pay, I think they\u2019ll [the students] get better instruction,\u201d Rollings said.\u00a0 \u201cBut, I think it\u2019s because the teachers have to look at how they\u2019re doing things and not how the student is learning it.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>What Does the Future Hold?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>The U.S. Department of Education<\/a> made $437 million in funds available to support initiatives that reward teachers, principals and other school personnel who improve student achievement. Indiana will receive $37 million.<\/p>\n

Bennett is hopeful this grant will help put Indiana back on track to bridge the achievement gap of its students.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that all schools should aspire to be the highest quality,\u201d Bennett said.<\/p>\n

Assistant Principal of Pike High School, Roy Dobbs said he understands the idea of rewarding those teachers who do a good job and go beyond, but at the same time, it is harder to gauge the merit.<\/p>\n

Dobbs said, \u201cI don\u2019t think you can take a bad teacher, give them another $5,000 and they automatically become a better teacher.\u201d<\/p>\n\"YouTube<\/a><\/span><\/span>\n

What do you think?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Should Indiana teachers receive merit pay?<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
yes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
no<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
See Results<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/form>\nRelated Videos:<\/strong><\/form>\n\"YouTube<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/form>\n\"YouTube<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/form>\nRead More:<\/strong><\/form>\nhttp:\/\/www.suite101.com\/content\/the-merit-pay-debate-a188442<\/a><\/strong><\/form>\nStudy: Merit pay for teachers doesn’t improve student test scores<\/a><\/strong><\/form>\nMerit Pay for Teachers?<\/a><\/strong><\/form>\n<\/strong> http:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/us\/2010\/09\/21\/study-merit-pay-teachers-doesnt-improve-student-test-scores\/#ixzz17bWrZS76<\/a><\/strong><\/form>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Anne Carpenter Seventy percent of Indianapolis high school students do not graduate.\u00a0 The national average is 30 percent. \u00a0In order to bridge the gap, Tony Bennett, the state superintendent of public instruction, is fighting for merit-based pay for teachers. At its core is a notion that everyone seems to agree on: better pay for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":269,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11974],"tags":[15612],"class_list":["post-1027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/convergegroup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/convergegroup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/convergegroup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/convergegroup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/269"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/convergegroup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1027"}],"version-history":[{"count":32,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/convergegroup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1027\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1484,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/convergegroup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1027\/revisions\/1484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/convergegroup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/convergegroup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/convergegroup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}