Palm Beach (FL) has some unhappy teachers right now. They're being denied a salary increase for superior teaching - because their schools as a whole didn't show sufficient increases on FCAT performance. Problem is, many of these schools already have "A" ratings, meaning that the teachers are being stymied by a ceiling effect that the state isn't taking into account:
Jerry O'Donnell, a science teacher at Eagles Landing Middle School west of Boca Raton, learned last week his A-rated school is not eligible for the teacher bonus because it did not make sufficient learning gains on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, the standardized exams that determine a school's grade from the state..."How are we supposed to improve any more if we get A's every year?" O'Donnell said.
Teachers' union President Shelley Vana said the plan was bound to anger some teachers. Plans that pay teachers based on the quality of their skills have caused controversy across the country, she said. "There is no fair way to do merit pay," she said. "It's not the district's fault."...
"I was livid. I have never gotten any kind of bonus," said Karen Kaplan, a first-grade teacher at C-rated Orchard View Elementary School in Delray Beach who was a Palm Beach County Teacher of the Year finalist in 2001. She filed a portfolio but learned her school did not make sufficient gains for her to qualify. "This was supposed to be based on your individual performance and not your school's performance," Kaplan said. "It is very demoralizing."
I don't blame her for being angry. If the plan is supposed to reward individual teachers, then the school's performance shouldn't have been taken into account - especially if teachers at better schools are being penalized. I wouldn't agree with Ms. Vana in concluding that there is "no fair way" to assign merit pay, but this method certainly seems unfair.
Posted by kswygert at July 28, 2003 03:44 PM