Governor proposes merit pay for educators

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced this morning a special legislative session focusing on education that he hopes will establish merit pay for teachers, allow students at low-performing schools to transfer to other campuses and use data to track students and educators.

The governor also wants the legislature to abolish a law that bars the use of student test scores in teacher evaluations. Under federal guidelines, states that prohibit the use of student test scores to evaluate teachers cannot apply for $4.35 billion in education stimulus money known as Race to the Top funding.

Some California educational leaders have said federal officials are misinterpreting state law, but Schwarzenegger vowed to do everything necessary to make sure California qualifies for the federal funding.

"This is an incredible opportunity for our students and our schools," he said at a press conference in Sacramento.

Not all of Schwarzenegger's proposals apparently would have to be passed by the Legislature to be implemented, but the governor said he hoped state lawmakers could finish their work by early October so the state could meet the deadline to apply for federal funds. 

Several other states, including Illinois and Indiana, have changed their laws or policies to qualify for Race to the Top funding.

The announcement could kick off a contentious fight with the state's powerful teachers unions. Union leaders have already said they are against a state-wide merit pay system and using test score data to evaluate educators.

The reforms could also be difficult to implement.

"They are absolutely sweeping," said Brad Strong, education director for Children Now, a national advocacy group. "But there are political realities and logistical issues ... We need substantially more resources for these to really take hold and be effective. Unless that's part of the conversation, the state will be hard pressed to make much progress."

-- Jason Song and Jason Felch

Photo: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Credit: Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times

 

Comments

[Susan Kovinsky]

California Public Education has been failing our students for decades and I don't care who caused it anymore - as far as I am concerned EVERYONE is to blame. I want students to stop suffering because of it and I don't care which adult gets thrown into the fire to fix it. I get it, teachers have a tough job and the district doesn't help and neither does the union but ALL the students suffer due to adult disrespect for one another and the inability to suck it up and compromise. Everything that is wrong with this state and its education policies is because of the inability to compromise. I am tired of everyone's interest coming before the students. And I mean everyone - stupid parents, beauracratic waste, whiny unions, political mouthpieces and groups that feel they are superior. If the is a problem is with the child then bring in the parent, if the parent is the problem then give them an ultimatum, if the teacher is the problem then give them some consequences, if the school is the problem then close it, if the district is the problem then get some real leadership. I don't want to hear whinning anymore from the unions either- no one else in the real world gets lifetime benefits except for our public employees - enough already. EVERY ADULT NEEDS TO TAKE SOME RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO THE PROBLEMS AND STOP BLAMING OTHERS.

[Timray]

funny is it not!!! you bright guys in LA vote on PropQ which raises your property taxes in spite of Prop13 and then you fund new schools where you have declining students on the roll....this is hilarious!!! you people deserve the educational system you have and people, along with manufacturing, are leaving in droves. you have become one helluva torterilla.....world class third world Los Angeles

[Tired of hearing it won't work]

I always hear from teachers about how what they do is impossible to measure quantitatively in terms of quality. No system is perfect but advocating no measurement is ridiculous. If test scores are not the best approach, the teachers must put forward their own plan which they can accept and will give more money to great teachers while also easily terminating mediocrity. If they don't like the plan of others, stop stalling on it and give us what we are demanding. We pay your salary afterall.

[DHK]

Merit pay is just another anti union scam to divide teachers. It penalizes teachers who have a far more difficult task of dealing with underperforming students. It's impossible to have a level playing field in education, so merit pay advocates are nothing less than ignorant anti unionists.

[A teacher]

Merit pay is a joke and will never work. Those teachers in middle to upper class areas would receive a check every year as compared
to the innocent teachers in south central and areas with a multitute of drug babies and numerous special ed classes at the site.It's a shame that society is where they are because of a teacher and this profession gets no respect.Let's not forget bilingual education, where primary students from kinder to second graders
aren't assess in their primary language.If you are an English speaker, travel to a foreign country and try taking their annual educational assessment.

[Michael Griffone]

The problem with merit pay is that it will only homogenize teaching to the point where only a few students will succeed. Merit pay will go to teachers with the most successful students, the honors-level teachers. Next, administrators will want all teachers to teach like the honors-level teachers do since this appears to be what works. Unfortunately, and having taught honors-level science as well as prep and basic level students for 14 years now tells me this, true honors-level students will learn from almost any teaching style. Next, administrators will try to put all students into honors classes since that seems to be where the good teaching is happening. This will overload the honors classes with students who are not ready to listen to lectures and read and so the composite scores will drop. As you can see, a self-defeating process.
Innovative administrators and teachers are working on the problem and coming up with some good ideas, but the fix will not come until everyone realizes that people are different and have different needs.

[Marsian Teachers]

Will you teachers please explain to my boss that my performance can't be measured, and that he shouldn't have the right to fire me at free will? Our systems are just as complex as yours in terms of measurement. That doesn't stop the data from printing out every day. We are living in a data driven society, like it or not. Who do you think you're kidding? Your comments are humorous at best. I'd like to see this skit on Saturday Night Live. The country would be roaring with laughter.

There's a real world out there. Yes, it's not perfect. All of us poor slobs, working our lives away in it can attest to that. But, guess what, you get used to it. It makes you work harder, and think twice. Do we all like that? Hell no. But, it's the best system we have because cream always rises to the top, and gets rewarded. It's called incentive. It's necessary, and it's something you are seriously lacking. Come up with something substantive already.

[don't look back]

Thirty years ago, I told my superiors that a program they wanted immediately implemented couldn't be done because of x,y,z, blah, blah, blah. I spent a lot of time preparing my report justifying all the reasons their program would fail. I was so proud of my work, and quite astonished when they gave me two weeks to put a full report on their desks showing how we would overcome the x,y,z, blah, blah, blahs in the implementation of the project, something I had not thought of. I never made the mistake again. Hint, hint! You can't delay progress.

[Working parent]

Geez, maybe time would be better spent coming up with solutions? Hello? Any teachers onto this idea? It's not novel. Welcome to the world. Take care of your internal problems yourselves. You're asking too much of us. Our plates are full. We don't care about the minutia. Give us the big issues, after you've resolved the details. We'll be here if you need us. In the interim, get with the program. It's not our job to solve your petty problems. You will be held accountable, no matter what. Stop wasting all of our precious time with "it can't be done fairly, justly, rightly, etc." We know how it works. Everything's measurable today. You're only fooling yourselves.

[free and appropriate education]

California schools are in dire need of change. Teachers need to be held accountable for their performance, but test scores should not be the measurement. As an LAUSD teacher I have repeatedly volunteered to work with the most challenging students, and have been able to motivate these students to improve and perform. If my pay were to based on test scores I would have to do what is best for my family and stop working with these students, and possibly the district.
Teacher evaluation needs to come from the school administration observerving and conferencing. I realize that in the "real world" employees are judged based on results, but education is different, often results can not be quantified.
If we are going to use test scores as a basis for pay then I would ask for one thing. Students who receive failing grades should not be allowed to progress to the next grade.
There are eighth grade teachers who have students that read at third grade level and have not passed a class since the sixth grade. If teachers are reporting that a child has not met the requirements for promotion, how can that child be expected to meet the requirements for the next year's course of study which is based on the previous years.

[Old Timer]

In response to the teacher who asked that students with failing grades be held back: Absolutely, we used to call it flunking. Flunk them, as many as you have to, for as long as it takes till they get the message that failure is not acceptable. It worked in my generation. No one wanted to be held back, and chastised by their peers. We are dealing with children. Some learn their lessons the hard way. If they knew they couldn't move into the next year with their friends, most would shape up quick because that's all they care about. We on the other hand are the adults, and know what's best, and what's best is that they get a good education, and graduate, no matter how long it takes.

[The truth]

free and appropriate education said: "As an LAUSD teacher I have repeatedly volunteered to work with the most challenging students, and have been able to motivate these students to improve and perform. If my pay were to based on test scores I would have to do what is best for my family and stop working with these students, and possibly the district".

Are you people so dense that you can't figure out a way to do this? We do it in Private Industry all the time. You have to give some extra credit (points, percentages, etc.) where needed, to balance it out. Then, you make adjustments for errors, after implementation. You continue fine-tuning it. It's a lot of work. It takes time.

Eventually it reflects the best measurement that can be provided. It's not perfect. Nothing is. It produces amazing results, and points out the obvious areas needing improvement. And the slacker employees jump off the pages because they are compared fairly with their co-workers within specific areas (ex. same school, math teachers, same type of students, etc.).

The high performers love it. They get raises. The majority of underperformers start working. There's only a few who can't meet expectations. They're given every opportunity possible to succeed, over a lengthy period of time. It's not a harsh, unfair system. I'd never consider going back to the old ways.

[Seth]

To "The Truth:"

You are right that merit-based pay proposals come with caveats that attempt to control for a whole slew of factors: socioeconomic status of the student and of the school, previous test scores of both the student and teacher, etc. Let's even assume that the things that are impossible to control for - such as the myriad personal factors that can affect a child's test score - somehow balance themselves out. Even then, merit-based pay is a joke.

This is for two main reasons:

1) The tests simply are not an accurate measure of teacher effectiveness - not even close. Our job is to prepare them to be effective members of society, both professionally and personally. Employers don't want workers who memorize and regurgitate - they want innovation and wherewithal. Exactly which multiple choice answer will capture that?

2) As has been documented numerous times whenever merit-based pay is initiated, teachers will simply start to cheat. I have to be honest and say that given my lack of respect for the tests, my desire to have my kids pass despite a potential bad testing day, and my own low salary, I would probably do the same. It would be laughably easy to get away with.

Your post is evidence of a much larger problem in society - that non-educators think that being a good teacher is a simple enough task that it can be measured by a student's test score. Most other professions have much more quantifiable outputs - ours is extremely difficult to determine and just as complicated as each and every developing human brain we work with.