EDUCATOR: LINKING PAY RAISES TO STUDENT PERFORMANCE IS WRONG
MUNCIE, Ind. - Linking teacher pay raises to how well or poorly students perform on standardized tests is a step in the wrong direction, says a Ball State University educator.
While acknowledging that teachers must be accountable, linking pay exclusively with standardized test performance could undermine the basic ideas of classroom teaching and eventually hurt students, said Tom Schroeder, associate dean of Teachers College.
Rather than teach children how to learn and think, teachers would instruct children on how to pass a test, he said.
"Thus, rewarding teachers for how well their students do on standardized tests abandons the idea of teaching the whole child," Schroeder said. "Teachers would be motivated to eliminate certain parts of the daily instruction just to get them ready for a test.
"What else are you going to do? Your pay depends on it," he said.
Performance-based contracts are being fought in several states by teachers' unions that don't want raises tied to teachers' performance in the classroom.
Teachers in Delaware are fighting a performance-based contract proposed by the governor. A suburban Denver school district recently approved a contract that links teacher quality to pay, but does not employ student testing.
"I favor teacher accountability," Schroeder said. "It depends on how accountability is defined. Standardized tests are only a partial indicator of what a student has learned."
Teachers also should not be held responsible for other
factors that often contribute to low test scores. A lack of parental supervision or involvement often forces school systems and instructors into a parental role, taking time away from classroom instruction, he said.
Students often come to school not prepared to learn because they didn't have breakfast or didn't sleep," Schroeder said. "Some parents aren't even concerned if their children do homework."
The issue is complex. Tying everything to performance on a standardized test oversimplifies and distorts real issues involved in teacher performance, Schroeder said.
(NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information, contact Schroeder at [email protected] or (765) 285-5251. For more stories visit the Ball State University News Center at www.bsu.edu/news on the World Wide Web.)
Marc Ransford
11/16/99
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