Thomas Tock, Executive Director, Association of Independent Schools of Greater Washington, identifies antidotes to myths about performance pay for teachers who consume an estimated $220 billion a year in local, state, and Federal funds for salaries and benefits:
(1) there’s no conclusive evidence on “the power of financial awards in promoting more-effective teaching and elevating student performance” or on “the long-term effect of performance awards on the supply of effective teachers”;
(2) teacher unions have fought the effort because it violated the collectivism at the heart of the industrial-style unionism in public education;
(3) educators do not adequately evaluate each other – 88 percent of the Chicago’s 600 schools did not issue a single “unsatisfactory” teacher rating between 2003 and 2006;
(4) only a tiny fraction of teachers are willing to have student academic performance test scores play a role in pay levels; and,
(5) if given a choice between two otherwise identical schools, 76 percent of secondary teachers and 81 percent of elementary teachers would rather work in a school where administrators supported teachers strongly than at a school that paid significantly higher salaries.
Toch, T. Five myths about paying good teachers more. (Captured October 14, 2009, at 9:40 AM PDT)