Teacher merit pay concerns in Texas

I can see why a lot of school districts here in Texas are opting out of the state’s merit pay plan. Poorer districts are worried about the 15 percent match.

But, all districts should be worried about “teaching to the TAKS,” given that the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills makes up 60 percent of the assessment weight for Tier 1 of the state’s merit pay program.

All I know is that, being in the Dallas area, when I hear “TAKS” and “money” in the same sentence, my first associational response is “Wilmer-Hutchins ISD.”

Of course, the monetary amounts on the merit pay system are too low to be a huge incentive to cheating, but it would surely cross somebody’s mind.

And, since Tier 3 of the Texas Education Association merit pay plan is based on student attendance, what’s to stop somebody from fudging the books there?

I’ll have more next week, after an article in my newspaper and at least one post on our company blog stimulates some discussion, I hope.