Bringing the Best and Brightest into the Classroom
Posted April 30th, 2009 at 3.36pm in Education.
Derrell Bradford of Excellent Education for Everyone highlights a disturbing finding from the New Jersey Department of Education at NJ.com—a majority of NJ students who failed the high school exit exam (described by state education commission as “middle school level”) had apparently taken and passed courses in Geometry, Algebra I and II, and Biology. This is evidence of rampant social promotion:
We have argued that New Jersey has two education systems. One you attend if you are white and live in an affluent suburb, and one you attend if you are poor, minority, and live in a city. The DOE report frames this differently. There is one system you attend where the classes are what they say they are, the teachers understand the subject, and students actually pass the classes. And there is one–typified by urban high schools that abuse the [Special Review Assessment]–where the name of a course is just “a name.” Where, as Assistant Commissioner Jay Doolan describes, schools can “call a course anything they want.” One where students “take” and “pass” college prep classes despite having learned nothing. And one where a teacher-quality vacuum likely staffs these classes with adults who know little more than the students.
Bradford is right to point out that the teacher quality vacuum is a key challenge for turning around New Jersey’s broken public schools. But policymakers for years have been unable to find a solution for dramatically improving the quality of the teaching workforce.
Dr. Matthew Ladner of the Goldwater Institute has a new solution that he calls: “Rock Star Pay for Rock Star Teachers.” Ladner’s idea is for schools to use value-added assessments (which measure individual student progress) to identify the teachers who are most effective in improving students’ academic achievement. More students would then be placed into the classrooms of the highest performing teachers, and their pay would increase correspondingly. Ladner argues that this approach would allow the most effective teachers to earn six figure salaries. He presents the details of this plan in a new report: New Millennium Schools: Delivering Six-Figure Teacher Salaries in Return for Outstanding Student Learning Gains.
- Author: Dan Lips
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May 1, 2009 Ross, Florida writes:
First things first, outlaw all trade unions for government employed teachers and administrators. That would be an excellent start.
The second would be to do away with tenure at all levels and positions. Fix a minimum standard and maintain it, using student scores and students ability to learn(IQ test, etc.).
However, something will have to be done and options addressed to those students that are disruptive or unwilling to learn. For these students make it “easy to leave but harder to return” standards must be set.
A student pleading stupidity and submitting to a learning environment would be tenatively re-enrollment based on adaptability of that student.
If not adapting and asked to leave, the student would have to pay for re-enrollment, just like a trade school or college. The more a student has a vested interest in his education, the better he will respond.
The laws on truancy will have to repealed and parents will have to either step-up and be accountable for their student or the community will have to step-in to find viable and productive work that will keep these young people off the street and out of trouble. For example, public service projects. Students with handicaps and learning disabilities will have to be addressed separately.
Then watch the good teachers excel with incentive pay based on results. The American education system has been the nation’s babysitter for too many years…and it shows!