Creating a Successful Performance Compensation System for Educators
National Institute for Excellence in TeachingJuly 2007
National Institute for Excellence in TeachingJuly 2007
Reg Weaver thought he had a cunning strategy for cornering elected officials (read about his cell-phone attack here). But his wiles are no match for his counterpart to the south.
The extremes to which public schools will go to keep faith outside their doors are well known--no nativity scenes or menorahs at Christmas or Hanukkah, no public prayer, and a reluctance to teach the Bible or Quran. But does this mean that schools are free of religion? What about the people who teach in public schools? Do they check their religious beliefs at the schoolhouse door?
Reformers face a Catch-22: they want to try new approaches, which by definition haven't yet been proven. But a skeptical public wants assurances that doing something differently will yield better results.
Once upon a time, Rick Hess and I argued that a Washington Consensus birthed the No Child Left Behind Act, and that this centrist coalition remained firmly entrenched, at least at the elite level of policymaking.
When engineer Nicholas Aggor's sons Samuel (14) and Joshua (13) brought home bad grades in math, he didn't just help them with their homework or call their teachers for a conference. No, he decided to rewrite their textbooks. Now, the two boys are in advanced math classes and Dad's textbooks--14 of them--have caught the eye of several school districts and publishing companies.
Was it a furtive trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a secret love affair with the way Cézanne depicts apples and pears, that caused New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein to hold principals accountable for the