Teacher Salary
I am a senior at Western Illinois University and Elementary Education major. After reading over some of the other suggestions it got me thinking. Some suggestions were about funding and paying the teachers more. That is what got my attention. Personally I think that teachers should all start out at a certain pay. This would be depending on the state and or district. I know not every school in the country can be the same. Now teachers would start on this scale but they could always move up on the pay scale. They are able to move up by taking professional development courses/seminars, and furthering their degree. I don’t necessarily agree with merit pay. We have discussed this in a class of mine and I don’t see rewarding teachers for grades is fair. As a teacher you know from year to year the dynamics of your classroom change dramatically. As a teacher you would be focusing more on the test rather than having your students master those skills. You also have to think about the area the school is in. If for example you have a lower income area where the school has had constant trouble getting high enough grades on the test, you will not attract good teachers because they know they will not be getting a high enough salary. That is sad, because we should want to teach those struggling students, but the reality is we also need to be paid fairly too. Merit pay is not the best decision. I think if we were able to come up with a plan where teachers get paid more when they work towards furthering their education, you would see the scores go up. Learning is a lifelong process and I think even teachers who have been teaching 10 years can still learn something to further their education.
This post was submitted by Christine Stocker.
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It’s interesting that the two Recently Submitted pieces of Advice on merit pay were delivered from “future educator” and “student”. Merit pay has no place in education. I ask the two students to teach for a few years and then give your advice to the President.