We agree. “Melika Willoughby apparently is paid to be derisive – and with public tax dollars, no less. Gov. Sam Brownback’s deputy director of communications mocked ‘ever-litigating’ school districts and the media in a newsletter e-mailed last week. She called criticisms of school-funding levels ‘flimsy’ and ‘easily refuted’ — even though the state has lost every school-funding lawsuit. In a newsletter last month, she accused editorial boards and union leaders of engaging in ‘bombastic talk’ about school funding. Earlier in the summer, she claimed that Kansas City, Kan., school district complaints about funding were the latest example of...
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Merit pay for teachers doesn’t work
Governor Brownback is now promoting teacher merit pay. We posted earlier about the issues of tying teacher pay to test results. Here’s an article, with cited research, showing why merit pay doesn’t work. “It is curious that teachers vigorously oppose merit pay, even though they are the ones who are supposed to reap the rewards. What do they know? They know that merit pay undermines collaboration and teamwork. They know that it corrupts the culture of the school… “Merit pay has been tried again and again since the 1920s. Sometimes scores go up, sometimes they don’t, but the...
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Leave a Comment VAM for merit pay does not work
Governor Brownback is now promoting teacher merit pay as part of the new school funding formula. That idea has largely been rejected after years of experience in other states. Here’s a summary of some of the research. “You can be certain that members of the American Statistical Association, the largest organization in the United States representing statisticians and related professionals, know a thing or two about data and measurement. That makes the statement that the association just issued very important for school reform. “The ASA just slammed the high-stakes ‘value-added method’ (VAM) of evaluating teachers that has been...
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Leave a Comment Governor proposes merit pay for teachers
Governor Brownback is again proposing an ALEC idea that has failed elsewhere (teacher merit pay) and sticking to talking points about putting “more money in the classroom”, instead of addressing the complex needs of Kansas schools. “I want more money going to teachers. I’m for merit pay,” he said during a 30-minute session last week… “’They’re trying to fit the product they want – which is competent children – into an inadequate budget number,’ Robb said… “Desetti acknowledged that Brownback’s call for more money into classrooms is ‘a great talking point’ because, ‘people nod.’ But he said it’s...
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