Teachers Sound Off on Tenure and Merit Pay on NBC’s Education Nation

By Tim Walker Educators Annice Brave and Kurt Kurtzhals, both members of the Illinois Education Association, participated in an NBC teacher town hall on Sunday as part of the network’s “Education Nation on the Road” tour. The hour-long, high-spirited discussion in Chicago covered teacher evaluations, high-stakes testing, merit pay, school funding, tenure and the role [...]

Merit Pay and High-Performing Nations

By Tim Walker In February, Education Next released a report that seemed to credit performance pay with the success of countries who ranked high on the 2009 Program for International Student Assessment survey (PISA). Merit pay proponents hailed the study as proof positive that these measures are necessary if the United States is to improve [...]

New Study: Merit Pay Does Not Boost Student Achievement

By Cynthia McCabe Yet again, researchers have determined that paying teachers a bonus based on student performance does not  improve the achievement of those students. A pay-for-performance study released by Vanderbilt University and the RAND Corporation followed nearly 300 Nashville Public Schools fifth- through eighth-grade teachers from 2007 to 2009. The result? No overall effect [...]

How Should Teachers Be Evaluated? Let’s Ask Teachers

By Kevin Hart Whether you’re chatting at the local barber shop or watching your favorite cable news program, everyone seems to have ideas about how teachers should be evaluated and paid. But one group that never seems to be asked for its opinion on this critical issue is the teachers themselves. It’s a damaging omission, [...]

Chicago Study Throws Cold Water on Merit Pay

By Colin Berglund A merit pay pilot program for teachers that began in Chicago schools in 2006 has had no effect on student achievement, according to a Mathematica Policy Research report released this month. According to the study, merit pay did not improve student standardized test scores or teacher retention – two main goals of [...]

Crist Vetoes SB 6, Takes Bold Stand for Florida Schools

By Kevin Hart With a stroke of his pen, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist took a bold stand today for the state’s students, educators and schools. The Republican governor, defying his own party, vetoed the controversial Senate Bill 6, which education experts say would have made Florida one of the most teacher-hostile states in the country, [...]