Time Magazine Article: How to Make Great Teachers

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1713174,00.html
I posted the link to this article that I think is pretty interesting. Its about the importance of hiring great teachers. The author goes into detail about how to hire teachers, how to motivate teachers, how to reward good teachers, how to attract teachers, and how to lower turnover. Many schools are using the business corporate ladder approach in which schools provide incentives, signing bonuses and housing allowances. Congress has considered adding merit pay to the No Child Left Behind Act but teacher unions are opposed to government involvement on how teachers are paid and evaluated. Due to the high emphasis of test scores, on school report cards and being competitive globally teachers have more pressure on them now than ever before. This article has some suggestions and even solutions on how to regain faith in the eduction system.

I think merit pay is a great way to reward teachers. I also think that it implies that teachers aren't trying hard enough or working hard enough currently. I think that teachers, whether their schools have merit pay or not are all trying hard to raise test scores. While merit pay will be a nice bonus it only emphasizes the importance of test scores and not on learning. Since only math and English are the only areas that are tested it does not offer teachers in other subject areas the opportunity to earn bonuses. If they were some sort of compromise on the requirements of merit pay then I think it would not only be fair but it would be welcomed by all parties involved. Other factors that should be included are grades, attendance and behavior. Test scores are only a small part of the education that takes place in schools.