OK, so there is an article on pay, I would hope that everyone in the class read it, because no matter what you think, it very much pertains to you. It was especially interesting to me because I recently did some research into Salem-Keizer School District and how much teachers are paid there. It is a combination of the step and lane system. Every year there is a raise for experience (starting at 34K for a Bachelors degree and 40K for a Masters Degree). Part of me is glad that many of them are changing from this system to one based on performance reviews, but part of it doesn't sit well with me either. Shouldn't teachers be rewarded for how well they are teaching their students? Shouldn't someone with a Masters degree be paid more than someone who only has a bachelors? I don't necessarily agree with the person in the article who said that 'The plan “is less about reforming a compensation system and more about what are the things we need to do to have a high-quality, highly effective teacher in every classroom,”' because it seems like this might be an effort to get rid of super old teachers who are past their prime and don't have a love for the profession anymore... Perhaps they shouldn't be teaching anymore? I agreed with the Pittsburgh system cited in the article that incorporated the step system and the performance review system as well. And I think that the Baltimore plan is just completely ridiculous. It values on course as 1 credit as opposed to a positive or superior review being worth 9 and 12 credits towards getting a pay increase? That just seems silly. That provides no incentive for teachers to keep being lifelong learners, which is what we are supposed to be teaching children. That plan makes it seem like, ok do these things until you can become a teacher and then after that point you don't have to learn anymore, because its not like you are going to get paid for it anyways so why bother? I feel like there should be some sort of reward...maybe, I think? I also found it very interesting that the Pittsburgh one was something current teachers could opt into, but I dont think it would be very likely that many teachers would opt into it because for ones that had been there for a long time already, they would have the most to lose. The longer a teacher stays in the system, the more they benefit. I would be very surprised if any teachers working more than five years would opt into that plan.
The other article I found really interesting was about Juveniles' education. I would claim that in the case of most youths who commit crimes, putting them in Juvy would be a was a reforming them rather than punishing them. That would make it all the more important to make sure than children who are being educated while incarcerated to receive a quality education. They aren't going to stay forever so they need to be prepared to get out into the real world.
No comments:
Post a Comment