so how should we pay teachers?

My buddy and I had a conversation yesterday that started with Al Shanker, who is credited with reinventing the American Federation of Teachers, and with bringing collective bargaining to the table.  I think of that step as an essential one in the history of teachers because it is so hard to quantify how well teachers perform, and thus hard to reward them fairly.  Even now, with all the data out there in education, I think the teachers’ unions will die before giving in to merit pay; there are just too many variables.  Should we measure students’ performance or their improvement?  How do we level classrooms’ playing fields throughout the country?  NCLB has targeted schools this way, but I think the vagaries inherent in classrooms make it impossible to reliably and fairly link students’ success with teachers’ performances and, thus, their pay.

So what do we do to pay teachers fairly and yet improve our schools?  I have said in other places that I don’t think the tenure system works; there’s simply no reinforcement for good performance, either positive or negative.  Teachers don’t get raises and they don’t get fired.  And in my experience, that system works for a majority of teachers, because they are good people, hard workers that want to do well by their students.  But some schools have simply too many hurdles for good teachers to overcome.  What are those hurdles?  Poverty, meaning a lack of a supportive community, a tax base, and students who are ready to learn.  The very schools that have trouble attracting many good teachers.  The answer: find state and federal funding for teachers’ salaries based on areas of need.  Pay bonuses to teachers who teach physics in New Orleans, math in Houston, and special education in New York.  Do what sports teams do.  You want to change the fortunes of a school district: attract the best players for positions you need to fill.