The Comeback by Gary Shapiro

Author:Gary Shapiro [Shapiro, Gary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Midpoint Trade Books
Published: 2011-12-14T22:00:00+00:00

These results are astounding, and they support what everyone knows—good teachers matter.

Even in the face of such evidence, the teachers unions reject completely the idea of pay for performance. They seem to think education is the one industry in America where we aren’t allowed to acknowledge that there are higher and lower performers, and pay people accordingly.

In Washington, D.C., where forward-thinking school superintendent Michelle Rhee actually fired several hundred teachers in 2009 and 2010, the union retaliated. It contributed over $1 million to defeat the mayor—so that Michelle Rhee would go away. The union succeeded.

There is hope. The Los Angeles Times (under the leadership of its president, Eddie Hartenstein) actually published the results of each Los Angeles teacher’s performance in raising average test scores. Brilliant! Why teachers unions defend the worst teachers is unclear. It hurts good teachers, and it hurts students.

Teachers want to teach. That’s why they became teachers. But we would do a better job retaining the very best teachers if we could reward them for their dedication—and results—in the classroom.

Of course, pay for performance already happens. Because education is funded primarily by local property taxes, schools in more affluent areas can afford to pay higher salaries. The best teachers in adjoining districts are often recruited into the higher-paying system.

But rather than support plans that might keep more of those qualified teachers working in underprivileged systems, the unions have fought to keep their guaranteed, across-the-board salary increases based almost solely on seniority. It’s time for Americans to say “enough” and insist that differential pay for teachers be instituted based on teacher competence, subject matter, and skills.

SUBJECT MATTERS

Subject matter, well, matters because, as discussed above, we need to focus on math and science education as a nation. Lack of emphasis on science and math was the biggest issue with the No Child Left Behind Act. This legislation had any number of benefits, but it also had the unintended consequence of putting an intense focus on basic English and math at the cost of de-emphasizing science education.

We do need to teach the basics—good old reading, writing, and arithmetic—but those are mere stepping stones to greater knowledge. We need intense science education not just to train the next generation of scientists and engineers but also because so many of the global problems we face require elementary science knowledge to understand. Think how much more informed important debates like climate change (and frivolous debates like evolution) would be if all Americans were truly comfortable with the scientific method.

We also must teach history, civics, and economics. The founders understood that an informed citizenry was a requirement for democracy to flourish. Our students must understand the true nature of America, its past, and the greatness it has inspired throughout history.

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