North Carolina Continues Move to Undermine Public Education
Merit pay scheme advances in latest effort to dismantle public schools in the Tarheel State
Educator and blogger Justin Parmenter has been providing comprehensive coverage of the effort underway in North Carolina to move teachers there to a merit pay scheme.
Yes, it looks like despite objections from educators, North Carolina will soon move every teacher to a merit pay plan.
Here’s the deal: These plans DO NOT WORK. Studies of these plans have shown they don’t work.
And that is, if by working, you mean both improving teacher performance AND student achievement.
The underlying assumption is inherently flawed. The idea seems to be that teachers are currently “holding back” and would “try harder” and “teach more” if properly incentivized. The proper incentive? Competition and cash.
These incentive schemes are devised by business types (bros who were into sports) because they can’t fathom a reward scenario that does not include both more cash AND beating someone else.
More from Parmenter on this terrible plan:
Let’s also examine what the policy leaders in North Carolina consider “incentive” pay.
I wrote about this before:
Advanced teachers with “adult leadership” responsibilities, such as mentoring early career teachers, could earn up to $72,000. At present, the state salary scale for teachers maxes out at $52,680 per year.
So, these numbers are higher than current teachers in NC earn. But, wow, they are LOW. An advanced teacher with extra responsibilities earns a max of $72,000 under the NEW system. No wonder people aren’t excited about becoming teachers.
It’s as if North Carolina’s policymakers lack both imagination and political will.
It’s also clear that they don’t value teachers or the education they provide. If so, current salaries wouldn’t be so low, and the so-called incentive plan would not suck so bad.
The minimum salary for a teacher in North Carolina should be $60,000. Teachers with experience should be making 100K plus.
Policymakers should be moving to provide more resources and supports to schools.
That these things aren’t happening in any way makes clear the policy priorities of those in power.
