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Sunday, May 16, 2010 | 2 a.m.
Sun coverage
Clark County’s classrooms can be pressure cookers for teachers under the gun to prove they’re doing their best. And no wonder. Entire campuses can be labeled as failing if just a few students fall short on standardized tests, which can come back to haunt teachers.
On the other hand, the School District is exploring whether to reward its best teachers with extra pay.
Last week the district recognized 30 teachers who voluntarily completed a rigorous, 400-hour program to earn advanced certificates in their specialties from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Five teachers also renewed their advanced credentials. For their effort and heightened expertise, each earned a 5 percent pay increase.
We asked some of the newly minted “master teachers” what they gained from the program and how they feel about merit pay — a controversial concept among educators. Their comments are edited.
Tonia Holmes-Sutton
Tonia Holmes-Sutton
Tonia Holmes-Sutton is spending her ninth year as a teacher working with 3-year-olds in the preschool program at Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School, where many of her students are English-language learners. Holmes-Sutton is also working toward her doctorate in educational leadership at UNLV, one of several programs expected to be eliminated for budgetary reasons.
“Getting my national board certification made me a better evaluator of my own performance and more reflective, and I also included my students in that process. At the end of the day I would ask them what they thought had gone well that day, and it was interesting to learn from their answers.
It’s devastating that UNLV might eliminate the educational leadership department. I’m grateful I’ll be able to finish my degree, but it’s unfortunate others won’t have access to the same opportunity. What I’m learning now should be taught in education classes at the undergraduate and master’s degree level. If I’d known some of these things earlier in my career, it would have made me a more effective teacher."
Timothy Massanari
Timothy Massanari
Six years ago, Timothy Massanari left a successful career as an architect to become a teacher — taking a 70 percent pay cut. A Clark County resident for 33 years, he is the father of five district students. He teaches first grade at Glen Taylor Elementary School, and remembers his own first-grade teacher from 53 years ago — Mrs. Gates.
“I believe first grade is when you can have the greatest impact on a student. I left the construction industry, but I still get to build. The certification process made me re-evaluate what impression I wanted to leave on my students.
Merit pay might be a good incentive for some people. But teachers take the job knowing we’re not well paid. That’s a misconception people have about the Clark County School District — you don’t realize how hard teachers work, how dedicated they are and how much they care. What I really wish is that more parents were involved in their children’s lives — not just at the schools, but also in extracurricular activities and sports programs. Teachers can’t do it alone."
Sandra Pontillas
Sandra Pontillas
A 1981 graduate of Rancho High School, Sandra Pontillas teaches fourth- and fifth-graders at Aggie Roberts Elementary School. She’s been a classroom teacher for 12 years, has earned her master’s degree and has 32 additional graduate credits. Pontillas has decided to volunteer for the support team that helps teacher candidates complete the certification process.
“My most memorable teacher was probably Mrs. Morgan — she taught me in the third grade at Lois Craig Elementary. I can still remember how kind she was.
I have a hard time with the idea of merit pay. We’re teaching human beings. And while I have an impact on my students’ lives, I’m not their only influence. Teachers can’t control those outside circumstances.
Going through National Board certification — identifying ways to improve and things I can do better — has been incredibly valuable. So often in these times we get caught up in the accountability and test preparation. It’s important to take a step back and reflect on the kids as individuals. This process has reminded me of everything that’s wonderful about teaching — and to always go back to that.
Tonya McKinney
Tonya McKinney
Tonya McKinney joined the Mojave High School faculty in 2008 after 14 years teaching in Michigan. She is board certified in career technology education and teaches computer applications, accounting and business. She also started Mojave’s Future Business Leaders of America chapter.
“Mojave has an undeserved reputation as being a tough place to work. The truth is we have a diverse population of terrific kids. Some of the students have attendance problems, which as a teacher is frustrating. That’s one thing that concerns me about merit pay — there are so many things that go into doing well on a test. The parental support has to be there, and the kids have to be in their seats every day.
That doesn’t mean teachers don’t deserve to be paid more. I took a $20,000 pay cut when I transferred to Clark County, and at my old school we were the lowest paid in Detroit. The teachers here don’t work any less hard than the ones in Michigan.
Stephanie Swain
Stephanie Swain
For Stephanie Swain, who teaches fifth grade at Sandy Miller Elementary School’s Academy for International Studies, the certification process reminded her “you’re there for the kids, and not your own agenda.” In the era of No Child Left Behind, that can be tough to remember, said Swain, who has spent half of her eight-year career in the district.
“Teaching is not about passing a test, or checking off a list of things people expect us to do. It’s really about asking what the students need, and how can they best get it.
I wouldn’t support a merit pay model where people had to outdo each other. Teaching is not a competition. The best schools are where everyone supports and helps each other. People tell me that bonuses work in the business world, but schools are not businesses. I work with students and their families to improve their lives. If people thought I was working harder to get something extra for my own benefit, it would really hurt how people view education."
Stephen Waite
Stephen Waite
A graduate of BYU with teaching degrees in English and history, Stephen Waite was expecting the board certification process to be difficult. But Waite, who has taught in Clark County for eight years, didn’t expect it would have such a profound effect on his own classroom performance at Virgin Valley High School.
“During the evaluation process, I discovered some of my techniques — such as having students write personal essays — weren’t as effective as I had thought. Adding small group discussions worked better, because it challenged them to defend their opinions to their peers, taking it beyond just writing why they believed a certain point of view. They’ll probably remember those interactions much longer than just writing an essay.
I’m not sure about merit pay. Part of me says “absolutely” — I should be a better teacher now and improvement should be rewarded. But I have students who probably don’t do much outside the classroom. I’d be all in favor of merit pay if there was a way to ensure kids did everything we asked them to do."
Good article.
Merit pay, at first blush, is a WONDERFUL idea!
In theory.
How do you "measure" student achievement as it relates to a teacher's ability?
It is fraught with potential pitfalls, as the above story would indicate.
To tie a teacher's individual salary to student achievement (or lack thereof) is akin to judging a chefs;
One chef will get a lot of fresh, home-grown ingredients to work with that they personally shopped for; other chefs will get stuck cookin' up a meal with generic, bulk-purchased, half-stale foodstuffs from corporate headquarters.
If they both cook up a delicious meal, which one should be paid more, and why?
Is every individual meal a chef prepares judged, and salary doled out accordingly?
Is every restaurant a chef works at a fair opportunity to compete for a fair salary?
How do you account for each customer's individual palate?
What about a chef's support staff? Did the chef hire them?
They ALL will be a part of how the meal is judged.
A good chef with a good reputation will get a good job, and restaurants might even compete for his/her services.
Should all chefs make the same dough?
I'm better than others: GIMME A RAISE! Um, give me a break.
nevadaroadapples.
You are uniquely unqualified to render any opinion on any matter that involves education.
We've ALL learned that!!!
Nevadaappleslices,
Can you imagine any job where someone would deserve a pay raise as an incentive or reward for doing extraordinarily good work?
Mr. Gorman,
TEACHING IS NOT A COMPETITION!!!!! If you find a way to improve teaching students, you don't trade it in for a bonus check. We leave that to the crooks on Wall Street. In teaching, you share best practices. A bonus, or merit pay, insinuates that a teacher is not giving 100% every day. While, as in any profession, there are those who do not measure up, most teachers give 150% every day and should get paid for their efforts. With 30-150 childeren depending on you daily, every day you must do extraordinary work.
Teachers cannot force kids to do their homework and take their studies seriously.
Teachers cannot force parents to be involved and actually parent their children thereby assisting in their development.
Teachers cannot babysit each and every child the way some people seem to think they should.
What teachers can do is provide the atmosphere and the opportunity for the children to learn; however, if the child doesn't take advantage of those opportunities that's hardly the teachers fault.
I'm not saying there's no accountability on the teachers part; there are some bad ones out there and they should be dealt with accordingly. But as the old saying goes, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink."
Congratulations to those teachers who invested in the extra leadership courses. Merit pay, raises for demonstrated increases in production, is possible in sales and factory work where bottom line is tied to factors that can be controlled at the input level. Public schools have no control over the raw materials (student abilities and potentials) that walk in the door. While some variances in learning abilities seem to be accounted for with special education, there are many backgrounds, attitudes, personalities, parental and cultural factors that affect what and how students learn the set amounts that would have to be measured for merit pay to be implemented. If merit pay is instituted, there would soon be schools where NO ONE would teach without some system of subsidized bonuses, because of factors outside the teachers' control would impact successful outcome.
Quixotic,
I'm not weighing in one way or the other on whether teachers should get merit pay raises. You read too much into my comment. (Some of the teachers in the story said they, too, don't necessarily support pay raises.)
I was simply asking nevadaappleslices, based on his/her comment, whether he/she would favor pay raises in any occupation.
The interesting discussion, then, could be whether the teaching profession was any less or more deserving of pay raises than, say, car mechanics, CEOs, health care givers, chefs, bank tellers, music store clerks, you name it.
Ooops, in previous post, I meant to say that some of the teachers Emily Richmond interviewed don't necessarily support *merit* raises. Gotta get me some coffee.
Decoy has it right. We can't force our students and their family to do anything. I've had students who finish a 2 hour exam in 3 minutes with a grin on their face. I've had students that filled in every bubble on the sheet. I've had kids cry because they hate these tests, and I've had students that teased kids for doing well on tests (I think that's the worst case because it creates an unsafe learning environment and may pressure others to not test to their potential). I will say that I think 95% of my students in the past 10 years have been wonderful. They try hard and their test scores accurately represent their academic levels.
Having our payscale determined by the level of our own education is a very fair way to do it. We are evaluated on our own actions. Now I'm not totally against merit pay, if they can somehow find a way to take into consideration all those situations I listed abve. Like I said, I think 95% of my students give it their all on those tests. That's not a bad number. I could live with merit pay, but I don't think it's fair.
And on the flip side of it, I've had students who are total geniuses--years ahead in many subjects. They have parents that work with them every night, pay for summer school enrichment classes, and take them on trips all around the world so they can be immersed in real-life education. They ask me for extra work AND pay close attention in class! Is it fair that I get a raise because those students happen to get placed in my class?
Mr. Gorman, I don't think you realized the impact of your original question, but the following quote from you response is right on point. (With pay corrected to merit)
"The interesting discussion, then, could be whether the teaching profession was any less or more deserving of pay raises than, say, car mechanics, CEOs, health care givers, chefs, bank tellers, music store clerks, you name it."
Exactly the point. The above mentioned jobs are profit based. Teaching is a service that does not generate any revenue. Should a police officer or a fireman receive a bonus or merit pay for "trying harder"? That is a horrifying thought. Merit pay should never be a topic of discussion in education. It is a divisive political tool spearheaded by ignorant people like Bloomberg, Klein, and Duncan, whose sole purpose is to destroy unions and pander to their own egos. No real teacher expects more than fair pay and many sacrifice economic rewards for professional fulfillment (Again, the antithesis of Wall Street).
teach5, you make some excellent points!
There's absolutely no question in my mind that performance based compensation is enormously more effective than anything based on seniority. I've dealt with it many times in the private sector.
There's no way we can honestly say that all teachers are equal. We have to acknowledge that positive reinforcement is the best way to motivate someone. The question is how to identify the good teachers. I don't think simply getting a certificate should be considered "good performance", though we should certainly encourage it. As unpopular as it is with teachers, I do think you have to look at test scores, but you look at year over year improvement on an individual student. We obviously can't compare raw test scores from underprivileged schools to the schools in wealthy areas. I agree that you can't force a kid to do their homework, but I'd like to see if we could track the kids that do/don't complete their assigned work, and their test scores would be weighted less when evaluating a teacher's performance. We could also include feedback from parents, other teachers, and the principals.
Instead of poking holes in the proposals, teachers should acknowledge the fact that some are better than others, and should make their own proposals on how to identify those people. I respect teaching more than almost any other profession, and it's because of some incredible teachers that my life is what it is. Those great teachers need to be rewarded. I've also seen some absolutely terrible teachers that seem to stick around forever and that simply don't care and don't put any effort into their work. They need to go.
We have the worst education system in the country. We need to be serious and make major changes. We can't just throw more money at the problem and give every teacher the same raise. We have to reward the good ones and get rid of (not reassign, but actually fire - after giving them notice and an opportunity to improve) the ones that simply aren't good at what they do.
You're right improveLV. Changes need to be made. And yes, we do rank at the bottom. Merit pay might be part of the change that might work. Using the evaluations that our principals give us should be a factor, as you suggested, while weighing test scores less.
And yes, teachers should be part of the solution. And I think we are. I know it sounds like teachers just sit there and complain about many things. But there are many teachers out there making proposals. And many teachers acknowledge that other teachers are much better. During professional development days and other meeting times, we spend time collabrating, sharing our successes, and teaching and learning from each other. This is a requirement built into our jobs.
Unfortunately, right now, testing is the most successful (and economic) method so far in comparing students, teachers, schools, principals, districts, and states. One day we might come up with a method without holes, but until then, testing will be the bottom line. And like I said in my earlier posts, some students bomb tests on purpose, and some students ace tests with no help from their current teacher.
Parents and culture- which is the accumulation of generational values. Clark County now has generations that hold education in low value.
I understand about the testing, teach5. I've talked to other teachers about this before, and I guess my theory is that the number of students that intentionally bomb tests is very small. And again, if those students are graded based on their own year over year improvement, I think (hope) that would be less of an issue.
I don't think the first strategy implemented is going to be perfect, and this is really going to be a work in progress forever. I think we need to start somewhere, and the teachers need to play a major role in the design. It would be so much more effective if the teachers felt a sense of ownership of the program.
I just REALLY want to see major changes very soon. I think we have a huge opportunity with this superintendent search. If we simply hire someone from inside the system and they just maintain the status quo, then we've failed.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Teachers don't need anymore pay. They already have taken the jobs from the substitute teachers during the summer, when THEY ALREADY get a SALARY in the summer for NOT WORKING. THAT IS NOT FAIR!!!!!!!!!!!! The subs have to starve or apply for food stamps just to feed their children during the summer. Also they cannot APPLY for unemployment benefits. TALK ABOUT UNFAIR!!!