Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? Message Board

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Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It?

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To: lorne who wrote (74646)	11/5/2009 3:04:00 AM
From: MJ	Read Replies (1) of 224748

Pay for Performance, previously called merit pay, has been around for at least 30 years plus. For teachers it is intimidating to know that they are being measured on a set of standards based on the students' statistical achievements either up or down----i.e. whether or not there is improvement in the students test scores on mandated tests at the end of the year or by quarter etc. Merit Pay came to be because there was no objective or subjective way to measure how teachers were doing in their job, in their work, other than looking at the test scores of the students on end of year standarized tests at variouos grade levels. Simply put, it is not a new idea. Where it runs into problems is if it is used in the track system that developed in the public schools, it is almost impossible for a teacher of 'slow learners' to qualify for merit pay (pay for performance) based on the improving test scores of the students. Why? Because students normally in these tracks will rarely improve their test scores-----so how does one measure the performance of a teacher working with 'slow learners'. In Obama's campaign, as I recall, he promised to get money to the city schools that were underperforming------read this as mostly schools in the inner cities. There were some observers who felt this was Obama's form of reparations for slavery as many of these underperforming schools are in black communities in the inner cities. Obviously, Obama via his Secretary of Education Anne Duncan will have substantial money to throw at a problem that many have attempted to tackle for decades. Recall that OBAMA IS NOT A PRODUCT OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL himself. It was well known when Obama was accepted to Punahou that one could rarely get a top academic education in the local public schools in Hawaii. Likewise, his children went not to public schools in Chicago but went to the Lab School (exact name escapes me) near Northwestern University------well funded monied school. Is it a way for Mr.Obama to control what happens in education? My first reaction is that it is an expensive experiment. Throughout the history of public education there is always a 'new idea' or a variant on an old idea that gets tried. My surmise is that the Charter Schools will become another form of public schools and controlled by the monies that Obama designates for them. Is it a way for him to attempt to control education-----sure it is-------he has his fingers in the cookie jar and will spend every dollar we have on his projects. whether they be in education or medicine or as we have seen in the automotive industry and of course also in tearing apart the free enterprise system. Rambling a little here----it is late and I am finishing some writing that I wanted to get done----saw your message and couldn't resist giving an initial opinion for what it is worth. mj

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