A comment on teachers' perfomance pay

From: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21516861-13881,00.html

Teacher performance model won't perform
COMMENTJudith Wheeldon
April 07, 2007

FEDERAL Education Minister Julie Bishop's plan to improve school education through performance pay for teachers is no plan at all.
We need leadership and a proper, funded business plan that answers key questions for this new project.
The minister's report cites research showing that "quality teachers make a significant difference to improved student outcomes". We knew that.
What we still do not know is how the minister plans to ensure every Australian child has a quality teacher. Paying some teachers more will not give every child a better teacher. Higher salaries for all teachers would.
How much money will be allocated to pay more than the current salaries? Where will it come from? Not from the federal Treasury, says Peter Costello, even though education is a federal priority and the Treasury is fat.
Saying "it's up to the states" is no substitute for a plan.
If 40 per cent of teachers meet the criteria, will they all receive the higher pay? If 60 per cent do? If 85 per cent do? Or will there be an arbitrary cut-off line that ignores the quality of many deserving teachers?
How much will a teacher receive? In the US, performance pay ranges from as little as an insulting $15 a year to some thousands, but paid only to a small number. There, performance pay is committed to for a year at a time.
Will our teachers have to be assessed every year? Will they have security that once the higher pay is awarded they can agree to a bigger mortgage? Has anyone looked at the costs in professional time and money (huge) of continually reassessing teachers?
Will performance pay for teachers in Catholic and independent schools be funded too? Many already pay above the award rates to all teachers. In what way will government school performance pay for some teachers attract and hold the best?
How will performance pay be allocated among schools? Will schools with more "quality teachers" have more funding, or will all schools have an equal per capita allocation? How will equity of access for teachers be assured?
How will equity for students be assured? Could a student go through school never having a "quality teacher"? And what will be the opinion of parents?
Ms Bishop perseveres in suggesting that parents and students might have a say in the evaluation of teachers.
How will academic integrity be assured if giving a higher mark or relenting in discipline might influence a teacher's salary?
Since comparative quality of teachers is the criterion, how will parents and students be given the complex understanding needed to know not just that Sally's teacher is a good teacher but that Sally's teacher is better than the others across the school or state?
How will we identify "quality teachers"? Easy. They are the ones who get paid more for the same work.
And this is a pity, because the ensuing divisiveness in schools will detract from the potential success of other ideas in the minister's report.
If independent school principals are more successful than their government school counterparts, it is largely because of their power to hire and fire. They can select, shape and set standards for their staff. This, allied with a strong professional development program tailored for the individual school and teacher, is a dynamic formula that can change a school rapidly.
The complementary authority for the principal to design a budget that responds to the needs of the school is a sensible step that would solve many local problems quickly. Principals could implement creative programs instead of merely dreaming of them.
Changes in education policy must be quality, co-ordinated and collegial - just like the staff.
Judith Wheeldon is a former head of two private girls' schools in Sydney: Abbotsleigh and Queenwood

What do you think??