Columbus Dispatch...
Editorial: School districts are wise to start planning for merit-based teacher pay

School districts that are taking steps to develop merit-pay plans for teachers and administrators are wisely embracing a future that could include stronger staffs and more-effective schools. 

Though it’s unclear whether the 2012-13 state budget will require merit pay, it’s crystal-clear that education, as in every other important profession, needs a system to identify, reward and promote its best practitioners. The current system prevalent in American schools - steady pay increases based mainly on longevity and credentials - doesn’t do enough to ensure classrooms are led by talented, motivated and inspired teachers. 

Today’s schools demand much more of teachers. Not everyone with an education degree has the gifts required to overcome a mountain of obstacles and reverse years of decline. Those who do should be rewarded and encouraged to remain in the profession. Those who don’t shouldn’t be encouraged to stay, but that’s what seniority-based pay scales do. 

That’s not good enough for America’s children, especially those who start out behind in academic skills. They need solid educations to make it in an increasingly unforgiving global economy that provides little opportunity for an unskilled laborer. 

The Democratic politician in charge of fixing Cleveland’s deeply troubled school systems understands this. Mayor Frank Jackson, breaking with his party’s traditional, labor-influenced opposition to merit pay, has joined the district’s chief executive officer and the school-board president in urging Republican lawmakers to include language in the 2012-13 budget calling for a merit-pay system.

South-Western City Schools and Worthington City Schools deserve some credit for starting the work of creating merit-pay systems, without waiting for a mandate. 

Both are proceeding tentatively; a Worthington official describes that plan for an extra pay raise, if the district meets academic goals, as a “baby step.” South-Western will develop a merit-based system for the 2012-13 school year, but it will apply only to newly hired administrators and other administrators who choose to join. 

Unfortunately, the Ohio Senate removed a provision requiring merit pay for teachers from its version of the budget. Some members are concerned that Senate Bill 5, the measure limiting collective-bargaining powers of public-employee unions, contains similar language; the possible ramifications, if the bill is overturned on the November ballot, aren’t clear. Others worry that a state mandate could hurt Ohio’s ability to comply with the terms of its federal Race to the Top grant. 

But merit-based pay for teachers is a prime education goal for the U.S. Department of Education. A mandate for Ohio schools to go in that direction hardly conflicts with Race to the Top goals. 

A state mandate should be simple, with basic guidelines that allow latitude for districts to develop their own plans. The art of evaluating teachers is evolving, and districts should be free to use the incentives that best motivate their teachers. 

While teachers unions in recent years increasingly have acknowledged the potential value of merit-based pay, skeptics continue to insist that teaching is too complex and mysterious to be evaluated objectively. True, merit systems shouldn’t be too simplistic. Cash rewards for meeting test-passing goals, for example, create a situation ripe for corruption; many districts have endured cheating scandals after teachers doctored test results to boost their pay. 

Moreover, studies haven’t yet shown that direct cash incentives for teachers lead to improved student performance. 

Still, a more-subtle evaluation of how much progress students have made in a particular teacher’s classroom must be a key element of a merit evaluation. 

Evaluations from peers and parents also make sense. Most parents have encountered an especially well-regarded teacher - the one everyone wants his child to get. A teacher earns such a reputation because everyone knows he is effective. Schools would be smart to include that collective wisdom in their assessments of staff. 

Researching and developing the most-effective ways to recognize and reward the best teachers should be at the top of the to-do list for the state Department of Education and local districts. Few things would do more to put excellent teachers in front of more Ohio students. 

Read it at the Columbus Dispatch