A reader posted these comments in response to Florida legislature’s passage of a law to offer a $10,000 bonus to new teachers with high SAT/ACT scores. The bonus is supposed to attract “the best and the brightest.”
Reader writes:
“Yes, districts will be able to lure in new teachers with higher SAT scores with $10,000 signing bonuses, but when the rigors of teaching every day sets in, Florida will see its $44 million walk right out the door. The biggest cliché at the moment is that one of the purposes of education is to create the lifelong learner, but why should students strive for higher education when their own teachers are not valued for achieving years of expertise, higher degrees, and national board certifications? What value is there to becoming educated and entering the teaching field when all you have to do is sit through a series of training sessions with Teach for America in order to teach the neediest and most demanding students who deserve the most attention? Once again, politics and government are wasting tax payer’s dollars.
“According to Education Week’s facts on Florida http://www.edweek.org/topics/states/florida/ there are 175,609 teachers in the state. The cap on this $10,000 bonus is 4,400 teachers in total which represents only 2% of Florida’s teaching population. If the program, goes over the 4,400, then each teacher will get less. The patient (public schools) is bleeding to death but don’t stop the bleeding – put a piece of toilet paper on a cut in the hope that this 2% will raise Florida test scores and graduation rates to new levels of achievement.
“I am in the process of getting my masters so that I can be even more effective as an ESL teacher despite the “stats” that the level of my education has no effect whatsoever on my students’ test scores. If that is true, why is Florida paying bonuses to draw in “smarter” people into the classroom with or without degrees? Why worry about smarts? If that’s the case, let’s just have any Joe Schmoe off the street teach our students. Maybe he will do a better job and not ask to be paid for his work and tax payers can keep their money!”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Florida is bad, but Ohio continues to vie for the top spot in “most screwed up ed reform state”
The House won’t pass the Senate charter reform bill because the House wants a special scoring method for charter schools:
“Sen. Peggy Lehner, R-Kettering, who has spearheaded the charter-school reform effort in the Senate, said she is mystified by what is happening to the bill.
Lehner said she is aware that some legislators want to immediately implement a new California-developed method for scoring academic progress for charter schools, replacing the current value-added system. Most charter schools would score better under that method, she said.
The bill would require that the system be studied over the next school year.””
It just never, ever stops.
How much is the special California scoring method for charter schools going to cost and how many out of state consultants does it involve?
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/06/27/legislative-leaders-stall-final-house-vote-on-charter-school-reform-bill.html
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“Sen. Peggy Lehner … is mystified” that, as I see it, charter school enablers and advocates want to openly and shamelessly have double standards, one for public schools that will measure-to-punish and another for charter schools that will make them look better.
The only thing that mystifies me is why she is mystified.
But I guess that is what it takes to be an elected representative nowadays.
😎
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I think it was sarcastic. She knows exactly why the charter regulation bill isn’t moving. They won’t concur on the Senate bill because they’re hoping to take it to a committee where their lobbyists can get a crack at weakening it.
I think it’s hilarious they want a special ranking system for charters.
Absolutely shameless. These are the same people who spend a good part of every day delivering stern lectures to Ohio public schools on accountability. They don’t get anything else done on public schools, but they are very good at stern lectures.
One of them is a former public school coach. He’s probably collecting a public employee pension. There is just NO sense of shame or duty.
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It occurred to me that since TFA recruits the top students—who probably do better and these tests like South Korean students who go to cram school to learn how to game tests—from top universities, then TFA recruits, with their 5 weeks of training, will probably suck up most of that $44 million, and then they will leave within two years or less.
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Exactly. A band aid solution that undermines professional teachers who don’t get a bonus but do need a living wage, not a second job or another reason to leave the profession. TFA teachers are often fine people, but they see our schools and kids as stepping stones. Even if some (trust me, I’m talking 5% from experience) are good teachers for 2-3 years, when they then quit on our kids to go to law school or into politics, our kids are the one who suffer and feel abandoned. Horrible idea; waste of money. High test scorers are not the best teachers. What irritates me is that since teachers aren’t respected or paid enough, I can’t get qualified teachers and HAVE to hire TFA trainees whom I am then responsible for TRAINING and supporting. A drain on my resources, and then it starts all over again. Yea for this blog and the movement to take back public education.
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So what about the current teachers who have high SAT scores. The assumption that only new teachers will have high SAT scores is ridiculous conceit. Arguably, the money should go to the teachers with the older SAT scores since it was considered harder before the reconfigured/recurved tests now.
This is public education money not Wall St recruitment bonus money and it is appalling that this idea has ever left some committee table let alone spoken out in public. Idiotic and totally fiscally irresponsible.
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Why does the general public expect teachers to be like “Mother Theresa’s” instead of professionals. Yes, I love my job, but I am not a saint. I’m not dedicating my life and giving up all my worldly goods for the cause. Treat me as you would a doctor or lawyer. I have a family to feed and a life to live. So stop the nonsense.
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TAGO!
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“Greed For America”
Hire the greedy
To teach the needy
Watch the speedy
Loss of kitty
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This is the final nail in my Florida teaching career’s coffin! I will be looking up my ACT scores but not to submit them to the state of Florida! I will be submitting my transcripts to colleges for a career change. I am a highly effective teacher but after working in Florida for 10 years I can’t support my family! It saddens me because I love what I do but paying the bills is important too. Thank you state of Florida for the jolt I needed to get motivated.
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This is what I did last year and more should do the same. Congratulations on your decision! Your talents, motivation, as well as your passion and drive to help others isn’t appreciated nor will it ever be. Just take some time and think about what it is you truly want to do because as you get older you really don’t have too many do overs. I quit the first day back this past year (pre planning week) and it was the best decision I ever made. I have about 14 months left in my program and I will start making almost 4 times more than I was making as a 13 year teacher in Florida. Don’t believe the test score BS. My test scores were always among the highest in my department and I worked with the lowest of the low when it came to students and it amounted to diddly shit in terms of extra compensation. The merit pay scheme in Florida in contingent upon state funding which basically amounts to a pat on the back for a job well done because there is rarely any funding available. This is the exact same scheme they pulled with the class size amendment. It’s simple: pass a law that looks well intended and turn around and ignore it by not funding it and boom the end goal is achieved. Teaching in Florida is the absolute worse hands down. http://www.nctq.org/docs/Broward_2013-14_Salary_Schedule.pdf
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Since I was in the DROP program, I was compelled to retire in 2003 even though I loved what I was doing and held an Ed.D. and certification in elem ed,,reading,
special ed,with gifted endorsement, administration,and a lifetime of experience. At the same time, Miami had openings for over l00 special ed teachers and was hiring out of field. They could get two of these “teachers” for my salary so I was expendable. Dr. Marie Fonzi
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New teachers, non-qualified or unprepared teachers, motivation, burnout, turnover, hiring, firing, giving pensions, pay, bonuses, teacher unions, administration, political party conspiracy theories, test scores, tax dollars, good schools, bad schools, providing adequate resources, effectiveness, test scores, teacher evaluations, poverty, money, and priorities…as Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz said, “lions and tigers and bears and oh my”!
Clearly, the state places a priority on high SAT scores. It does make sense that they offer a reward for a desired outcome! On the other hand, teachers are overwhelmed and overworked, and they do not get the deserved pay or recognition. Rightly so, they are frustrated. In this [particular] issue of bonuses for high SAT scores, what exactly is the issue causing ire? Is it that the amount of $10,000 is too large or given to too few teachers? Is it that taxpayer money is used? Is it that the money is used ineffectively? Is it that the priority on high SAT scores is misplaced? Is it that there is a general hatred of assessment-driven education? Is it the background of privilege associated with high SAT scores? Is it all about money? Is it that teachers are evaluated by standardized test scores?
It’s easy to argue from a place of emotion or personal experience, it’s easy to demean something as ridiculous, it’s easy to conjecture solutions, but it’s hard to ask the right questions. Do we throw out all forms of standardized assessment for students and teachers, altogether? Do we use a different test or a variety of different assessments? Do we use affirmative action measures? Do we organize a teacher strike? Or is it simply that teachers need money, respect, resources, preparation, and experience?
Perhaps, most importantly, we should ask pertinent questions about connected factors, such as: a teacher’s educational level (or preparedness or experience), teacher quality, a teacher’s personal SAT scores, and a teacher’s students’ SAT scores? Is there a connection between a student’s high grades/SAT scores and college success, or are good SAT scores really the result of cramming, luck, and class privilege? Is the SAT always a guarantee of college success? No. Is the information found on the SAT incredibly practical? No. Is it fair that students who can afford to take the SAT twice with parental support do better? No. What about those students who feel good about themselves because they did well on the SAT? They assume they did well because they are smart, they read widely, they are curious, and they study wisely. To dismiss their success as lucky is patronizing and demoralizing!
One comment mentioned “This bonus should be offered to high school seniors in Florida, who dedicate themselves to a major in education – with the requirement they student teach, then teach for several years in an understaffed district”. This program is already established as the TEACH grant under Federal Student Aid! Nevertheless, I do support the idea of diverting high SAT score bonuses to the TEACH grants. Another idea is to fundraise money to match grant money or bonuses in order to offer mentorship to novice teachers. One suggestion is to give teachers more preparation, more resources, more job stability but also make it more difficult to become a teacher; so, teachers would be more qualified and better prepared, but this might create a staffing problem.
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