Comments on: Merit pay for teachers: Is New Mexico ready?

By: sjodavis

sjodavis — Mon, 10 May 2010 04:06:25 +0000

What I find appalling is that New Mexico teachers are paid so little, yet teachers who want a Level 3 license need to have a Master's degree which, unless you have a rich uncle, is a HUGE investment. In order for Level 3 teachers to reach the $50,000 pay, a PhD is required. That's another HUGE investment. It's a catch 22 made to order.
Teachers are simply not honored in New Mexico.

By: jscotkey

jscotkey — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 22:23:19 +0000

P.S.: Thanks for the informative education coverage, one willing to go a few words deeper on the subject. Keep it up.

By: jscotkey

jscotkey — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:23:19 +0000

P.S.: Thanks for the informative education coverage, one willing to go a few words deeper on the subject. Keep it up.

By: jscotkey

jscotkey — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:23:19 +0000

P.S.: Thanks for the informative education coverage, one willing to go a few words deeper on the subject. Keep it up.

By: jscotkey

jscotkey — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 15:23:19 +0000

P.S.: Thanks for the informative education coverage, one willing to go a few words deeper on the subject. Keep it up.

By: JoMa

JoMa — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 15:43:47 +0000

Merit pay is a “provocative concept”?

Sorry to say this reminds me of an old adage: “Those who can do, those who can't, teach.” Sorry to be so negative on this, but when we continue to rank near the bottom in education and drop out rates we need to try something different.

All I ever hear is that we need even more money for education, our problem is poverty and uninterested parents, charter schools are not the answer – only public schools and unions can solve the problem – on and on forever.

The world is a great leveler. The street smart kid who drops out or fails to work in school thinks he or she “put one over on us”. Only when they begin to think with a little maturity do they begin to realize that their real competitors for “the good life” are in China, or India, or Japan, Brazil and other places where education is seen as a way up, not a fool's pursuit. All the “Progressive” ideas in the world aren't going to help.

By: jscotkey

jscotkey — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 15:31:37 +0000

Not to pick on Republicans, but it's good to see GOP folks understanding the complexity involved in creating a "merit pay" system. I see Senator Asbill, in addition to being a school administrator, has a brother-in-law in education. It reminds me how much better things might be if all legislators had relatives who were gay, foreign nationals and/or public school teachers. You can't beat personal contact in better understanding the plight of others.

Speaking of plight, let's throw around a few complicating scenarios and merit pay:

* Gifted teachers (listed first because this is what I do): Eligible, or not eligible?
* Special Education teachers: Special rules for eligibility? No special rules?
* English Language Learning teachers: See Special Education above...
* Inclusion teaching situations: SpEd teacher eligibility only for the SpEd kids in class? No? Same rules for the Regular Ed. teacher of the class? No?

Let's combine this with expanded parental control in picking their child's teachers: What are the impacts?

And so on, and so on...

I just picked a few. There are, of course, many, many other scenarios that would have to be considered to make a merit pay system anything close to equitable. On top of this there's the simple fact that current teacher evaluation systems are, truly, laughable. How much are we willing to spend to put an teacher evaluation system in place that handles merit pay? How long are we willing to pay for such a system, without it being gutted/eliminated the next time a budget crisis comes along?

By: ched_macquigg

ched_macquigg — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:38:38 +0000

Why isn't there merit pay for all public service,, why just teachers?

By: rocket5

rocket5 — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:15:30 +0000

Teachers in this state need more protections and not less. Instead of studying yet another proposal, why doesn't the legislature start to look at how the 3 tier license systems sets up teachers for failure. Teachers should be give hearing rights after the first year of service and not after 3 years. That is a 3 year probationary period! Teachers should be able to recover attorney fees when their contract is not properly renewed. Why not even the playing field to really examine how teachers are treated in the system created through the School Personnel Act. Merit pay may be a good idea, but NM's education problem are far worse and the school districts are permitted too much discretion when firing teachers. That cycle should be addressed before jumping at another study to kick the can to the next governor. Come on Rep. Stewart, you know the most about this issue and should take the lead to stop improper firings of teachers in this state.