Gonna have to call BS wrote:
Will people ever stop with this BS about "Oh, there is no perfect way to measure performance"?
Guess what folks? There is no perfect way to measure performance in ANY job but there are reasonable ways and paying for performance is fundamental to getting improved performance. Yes, it IS that simple.
Otherwise, let's pay every administrative assistant the same as every other, every lawyer the same as every other, every engineer the same as every other, every executive the same as every other...because, after all there is no way to perfectly measure performance.
If it IS that simple, please inform all us what are the reasonable ways to assess teacher job performance. I have multiple teachers in my family. Some teach at private schools, others public. While a few teach in low performing schools where the kids come from difficult circumstances - single parent homes, live with grandparents or various other friends/family, homeless, drug addicted parents, parent in jail, parent involved in prostituition, abusive families, immigrant families that speak no English, and so forth. Other family members teach at affluent public/private schools where the kids come from homes where there are two parents in the home, educated parents, access to all the latest educational tools, computers, and tutors, parents are involved in their school's extracurricular activities, education, and guidance.
The teachers in the low income schools pay for all the supplies in the classroom, pay for their children to attend field trips, stay after school and come in early to provide the children with extra help, yet these children still fall short of their affluent peers. Should that teacher be penalized for being willing to work in a school plagued by poverty?
On the other hand, the other teachers are overwhelmed by the number of volunteers, receive tons of supplies and gifts, and can count on the children being in school and doing their assignments. Should they be rewarded for teaching at a school where grades and success on standardized schools is almost guaranteed? (This doesn't even include the teachers at private schools that don't have to deal with the state standardized testing system.)
What are the reasonable standards?