Dispatch right about teacher merit pay

Good editorial in the Dispatch on teacher merit pay:

Despite seeing mixed results, Columbus City Schools shouldn’t give up on merit-pay bonuses for teachers.

The question of whether merit pay can lead all teachers and students to better results is too complex to be answered by a few years’ worth of data at only a few grade levels.

Moreover, even without statistical proof that merit pay lifts entire schools, it undoubtedly is true that teachers whose students improve more than others are bringing the most value to the enterprise of teaching, and so giving them extra reward is both fair and smart.

It’s fair, because teaching should be no different from other professions, in which measurably better results yield greater compensation. And smart, because recognition can attract and keep talented people in the classroom.

Columbus school officials and teachers deserve credit for being willing to try merit pay in a variety of pilot programs. Most teachers unions doggedly oppose merit pay, saying it will lead to “unhealthy competition” and that principals can’t be trusted to award it fairly.

As Sally Oldham, the Columbus Education Association’s vice president, can attest, sister unions have criticized Columbus teachers for being willing to bend on the traditional insistence that teacher pay be determined by their years of experience and level of education

There is near universal complaints about teacher pay and yet very little discussion of why salary should not be connected to results. The public for the most part just fails to see that unions protect the bottom at the expense of the top. They make it unattractive to be a teacher by making those interested in the subject but not in multicultural and psychological mumbo jumbo jump through a bunch of licensure hoops and sit through attrocious curriculum in college.

The system is set up to reward mediocrity when combined with longevity. It discourages passion and creativity.  This is not a recipe for high pay and excellence.

Anything that can be done to reduce the power of the unions and move toward merit and skill rather than mere tenure and credentials is to be applauded.

Bob Taft is feeling pretty good these days

What with Ted Strickland taking all the heat from left and right while the economy makes Taft’s time in office seem like an oasis of prosperity.

The folks over at the Education Gadfly had the bright idea of talking to him about his new found perspective.  And it produced some interesting quotes.  These two in particular caught my attention:

Is a good education a matter of money?

Overall, funding is not the biggest obstacle to school improvement in Ohio. It’s how we can best use the time and talent of educators to improve education for all kids, particularly for kids in urban areas…. Resources are important but more important is how the dollars are used at the school level to change what is happening in the classrooms.

Is it time for a tax increase?

It’s nice not to be governor right now and worry about those decisions….The temporary one-cent sales tax increase was not popular, but I believed it was necessary after all the cuts we had already made. Today, I’m not close enough to the details of the budget to answer that question…. I do believe, however, that it is important to continue the income-tax reductions underway because Ohio’s rates are too high from a competitive standpoint when you put the state income tax together with our city income taxes. You don’t want to be one of the highest income-tax states…. It’s hard to compete with Texas and Florida [and other states without income taxes] but now we’re not even competing with surrounding states.

More on this below.

Read more..

Dispatch right about all-day kindergarten

I am not shy about criticizing the Columbus Dispatch when their coverage or editorials deserve it.  But they also offer some good coverage and some worthwhile editorials.  So in the interest of fairness allow me to point out today’s example.

All day kindergarten is a favorite of the liberal spend more on education types despite the research that questions its value.  The Dispatch has a nice editorial on Strickland’s poor policy on this subject:

The provision in the new, two-year state budget calling for all school districts to offer all-day kindergarten starting in fall 2010 is an unfunded mandate. The precise financial impact on cash-strapped districts is uncertain because of the measure’s lack of clarity.

As with much of Gov. Ted Strickland’s vision for the future of Ohio’s schools, the all-day-kindergarten requirement comes with no sure funding. Although the state-aid formula technically has been changed to allow the full per-pupil amount for each kindergarten student — in the past, districts got half the amount for each kindergartner — overall limits on district funding increases mean most districts won’t see extra money to pay the costs of full-day kindergarten.

The mandate also is squishy: It requires the offering of all-day kindergarten but doesn’t require children to go all day. Under state law, kindergarten attendance is mandatory but needn’t be longer than part time. Districts won’t know their kindergarten costs until they know how many parents want to send their children to the all-day classes.

[...]

Mandating all-day kindergarten for everyone may be a one-size-fits-all solution to a problem that isn’t universal.

If already-squeezed districts are forced to sacrifice other good programs to meet this mandate, Ohioans will see how much it truly costs.

I would go farther, however, and argue that all-day kindergarten is a distraction from the real issue of school reform.  The fact that it is another unfunded mandate from the state with unclear rules further undermines any benefit it might bring.

But it is typical liberal “reform” more symbolism than substance and one that is unlikely to help actual children.

Charter schools do better than measurements suggest

Interesting news via the Columbus Dispatch on charter schools:

Charter schools and urban traditional schools do a better job educating students than some state measurements suggest, according to a study released today by KidsOhio.org.

The education-advocacy group’s study shows that charter schools score much better when measured by how much students grow academically from year-to-year than when measured by how well students perform on testing day.

Schools in Ohio’s eight largest urban districts show a similar trend. On average, public schools that were neither charters nor urban rated almost evenly on both measures.

Not surprisingly the aim of the report is to impact the budget and policy debate in Ohio:

The House budget assumes “if you are in academic emergency or academic watch, that’s a school that’s not working. Sometimes that’s true, but sometimes it’s not,” said Mark Real, president of KidsOhio.org. “You wouldn’t want to penalize somebody on just one fact. Before you start reducing funding, you would want to take both into consideration.”

It can’t possibly be that Governor Strickland is trying to undermine charter schools in Ohio to gain the support of the educational unions rather than do what is best for kids? Nah.

One of the more interesting twists in this debate has been the way unions have changed strategies.  They first argued that charter schools would skim all the best students and thus hurt tradtional public schools.  That turned out not to be the case; quite the opposite in fact.

So then they turned around and attacked them using the very same testing system that they deplore every chance they get.  It seems testing is a horrible way to judget schools or decide funding unless it helps destroy charter schools.

The Ohio Senate was right to stop Strickland from underming this education reform tool.

Monday Morning Links

Some Ohio Politics links that caught my eye this Monday morning:

- Prosecution of Gutierrez uncommon

Anthony Gutierrez, the former manager in the attorney general’s office accused of stealing from his boss’s campaign account, treating female subordinates as sexual playthings, and driving state vehicles while drunk, is not facing criminal charges related to any of those allegations.

Instead, the most serious charges against Gutierrez, the former general services director for disgraced former Attorney General Marc Dann, allege workers’-compensation violations.

It’s rare for any Ohio business owner to face felony charges over such violations, according to lawyers and the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation’s data. That leads several workers’-compensation lawyers to suggest that state officials and prosecutors are trying to make an example out of Gutierrez.

- State education official blasted over leadership pitch