A new(?) idea for teacher pay

Hi all,

First off, I want to say that I'm not looking to step on anybody's toes. I am in no way a education professional, so if my ideas are ignorant and off-base then by all means set me straight. I am however, an american citizen with an interest in seeing our population well educated (as a defense against tyranny and an investment in the future). I firmly believe that since we entrust them the minds of our children deserve the highest respect and to be well compensated.

That being said, I see several problems with the incentives for teachers to remain as in the profession. 1) The job is too difficult and emotionally taxing for the amount of compensation offered. 2) Good teachers are paid equivalently to poor ones. 3) There is no upside to working in challenging schools other than the non-tangible rewards of making a larger impact on the kids that really need it.

My proposal is this: 1) Offer teachers bonuses for exceptional performance using some appropriate metric. I know teacher performance ratings is a hot topic, but I'm not looking to push people out, only recognize and reward professional excellence. And I'm not talking some lame $500 check at the end of the year, I'm purposing a tiered percentage increase in base pay for the top 25%, 10%, 5%, and 1% on the order of 1.2x, 1.5x, 1.8x, and 2.0x.

2) Using the existing metrics that identify troubled schools (low income neighborhoods, high drop-out rates, poor outcomes, poor college follow-ons, etc), and year-by-year offer again, percentage increases in income to teachers to come teacher there (2x, 3x, 4x etc). Coupled with the previous pay changes, this would encourage good teachers to move to hard schools so they would make the greatest difference.

3) Centralize inter-school assignment at the federal level for the public schools. Take into consideration teacher's location desires, but also the requirements of the various school districts. This would give teachers and administrators the visibility on where the needs and opportunities are located. This obviously means that moving needs to be a simple and efficient process with compensation for moves that are in the best interest of the department of education.

Thoughts?

Again, not an educator, just a citizen who wants our education system to work for everyone and see teachers paid like they deserve.

Submitted January 25, 2017 at 03:05PM by wolno-mysliciel http://ift.tt/2jyHJs2