Beacon Journal likes the Buckeye Institute’s Merit Pay Plan
Wednesday, August 13th, 2008 By Carlo LoParoAkron Beacon Journal editorial:
Reward the best
A Columbus think tank proposes a plan that should advance an essential discussion about merit pay for teachers in OhioPublished on Wednesday, Aug 13, 2008
Sooner or later, discussions about how to raise achievement in public schools come down to a simple consideration: the importance of top-flight teachers in the classroom. That leads to another simple but powerful notion that exceptional teaching deserves appropriate reward, as recognition as well as an incentive.
Programs that offer bonuses for excellence in teaching are appealing. They have proved contentious, too. Critics point out, justifiably, that in many instances the pay-for-performance programs are poorly designed, leaving teachers open to unfair decisions that create divisiveness within schools.
All the more intriguing, then, is a new proposal put together by policy analysts at the Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions, a conservative think tank based in Columbus. Matthew Carr, the institute’s director of educational policy, argues persuasively that the plan offers the best option (and incentive) to raise the capacity of Ohio’s school districts to recruit, retain and train accomplished teachers. The proposal, comprising best practices drawn from merit-pay programs in effect in Arkansas and other states, would avoid the pitfalls that have made similar efforts at bonuses and differential pay for selected teachers a source of persistent contention.
Read the entire editorial.
Tags: Teacher Merit Pay
