Cart before the Horse?

The Washington Post reported that federal funding for performance pay in public schools would quadruple, to $400 million a year, under a bill moving through Congress. This reflects a growing political momentum behind an education reform once resisted by labor leaders and teacher unions.

Finally, one can argue, accountability is a priority in the education system. Or is it? If you had an untrained dog and bought all the dog training videos and books on the market, will the dog be trained? We are asking teachers in effect to increase performance drastically with the same student problems, same socio-economic issues, and same educational approaches that have in fact led to the problems in the first place.

Case in point: The same paper reported that there is still a gap in achievement between black and white students nationally although academic gains have been made overall as a result of the No Child Left Behind efforts from the previous administration - without pay incentives.

The Ledger in Lakeland, FL reports that teachers aim to boost student's interest in reading to improve reading scores. Despite millions of dollars spent to improve reading over the past 8 years with no significant improvement, it is more of the same.

In Las Cruses, NM students are exposed to 'Math Snacks' - a series of short animations and games that help middle school students better understand math. The program can be used as homework or in class. What's next on the gimmick list?

In Portland, Or parents are up in arms about a proposal to move back to large neighborhood schools rather than smaller (and costlier) schools. The argument is that current schools are segregated by race and income, yet there is no evidence that changes will improve student achievement.

These examples are mentioned as a small glimpse of the wide range of issues that need to be solved irrespective of pay for performance. In a severe recession, throwing almost a half billion dollars of tax money to teachers with a very fuzzy assessment component, just does not make sense.

In Florida, a decision has been made to link its $700 million in Federal education grant money to the adoption of local merit pay plans. This award program is based 60% on improvement of standardized test scores and 40% on evaluations by principals. The FCAT exam has been widely criticized for years now but it is what it is. But what happens if the principal does not like me as a teacher? Down goes my potential bonus income!

It is not about withholding money from good teachers. It is about putting more pressure on them to perform in an imperfect environment where the playing is anything but level. Cart before the horse?