Do the Math: Money Plus Merit Equals Better Teachers
Pop quiz. Name the one American profession in which workers get almost no rewards for a job well done; that's having the toughest time attracting and keeping the best and brightest people, just as it faces an unprecedented demand for new hires; and in which the quality of the worker determines, more than any other, whether or not our young people excel.
The profession is teaching. And that's why Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's call to usher California's schools into the modern era with performance-based pay for teachers is the right reform at the right time.
Few Californians need convincing that the state's schools are subpar. A Rand Corp. study, released this week, put it starkly: "California's public school system lags behind most of the nation on almost every objective measurement of student achievement, funding, teacher qualifications and school facilities." The report noted how far the state's position had fallen since it was a clear national leader a generation ago.
What makes good schools good? If we could wave a magic wand and improve one thing, what would it be? Buy new desks and books, cut class size or put an exemplary teacher in as many classrooms as possible?
First, consider what the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning reported last month: "Nearly 60,000 California teachers are over the age of 55. If those 60,000 teachers leave the profession at the average
One reform rises above the rest in urgency and importance: investing in teachers. Invest in them now by building a teaching profession in California that is the envy of the world. Improve preparation programs, which currently don't give teachers the training they ought to, particularly in the subject area they teach. Streamline certification and licensing systems. Strengthen professional development. (According to the Rand study, just 46% of California school districts require teachers to be fully certified in the subjects they teach.) And attract the best with good base pay and modern incentives for excellence.
While other professions have offered more and more rewards to people who do good work, teaching has lagged behind. All good teachers in the state are underpaid compared with other professions -- one study shows teacher pay in California falling below the national average when adjusted for the state's cost of living. And for professionals talented in math, science or engineering who can earn far more in fields outside education, the shortfall is stark.
