Should teachers receive increased compensation for improving student performance from year to year?

No

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by Reynold Conger

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Ah, it would be wonderful to be able to encourage better teacher performance by compensating teachers for their students' improvements in grades or test scores. Unfortunately the performance of students is not directly related to teacher performance.

The performance of any student is influenced more by other factors than by the teacher or the teaching methods used.

MOTIVATION is probably has the most influence on student performance. Motivated students learn more, faster. All teachers work to motivate their students and some teachers have more impact than others. Parents and peers have more influence on students than teachers. It is obvious to the teacher which students are being encouraged by their parents. Some parents help their students with homework. Others reward students for A's and B's, but what is needed most is encouragement. School is stressful. Students need to be encouraged to do their best. Students also need to be reminded of future applications of the topic of the class. So often students ask, "When will I ever use math (English, Spanish, history or even shop)?" When a teacher answers this question, many students will not believe the teacher because the teacher has a vested interest in that subject. When another adult, especially a parent, answers the question, the student is more likely to recognize the future need of the information to be learned.

PEER PRESSURE. More than ever, today's students are trying to be accepted by their peers. This is most obvious in the clothes they wear. The problem is that some students think it is not cool to do well in school. These students will simply stop trying, and worse yet, they may influence their peers to do the same.

DISTRACTIONS. Most classrooms are designed to minimize distractions, but distractions occur ranging from too frequent paging and announcements over the intercom to large windows overlooking an athletic field. Students walking in the hallway frequently wave through the window of the classroom door. Perhaps the greatest distraction is dress. Students compete with each other to be wearing the most stylish clothes. They may spend more time comparing clothing than listening to the teacher. The current fads in girl's clothing are particularly distracting to our middle school and high school boys with raging hormones. In schools where a dress code for modesty is not enforced, many of the girls are dressed like prostitutes. With all of that forbidden flesh showing or almost showing, it is a wonder the boys can pay attention to class at all.

SELF CREATED DISTRACTIONS. Some students come to class with the belief that the class is not important or that they will be bored. Thus they create distractions to entertain themselves. Girls apply makeup in class. Students hide magazines in their text books. Students write and pass notes. Students text on their cell phones, and students draw fancy pictures rather than taking notes. Such activities hinder learning. It is the duty of the teacher to prohibit and prevent such activities in the classroom. In extreme cases, the teacher will confiscate the offending material, but no matter what action the teacher takes, dealing with these distractions interrupts the class thus degrading the quality of the lesson.

STUDENTS PULLED OUT OF CLASS. A student who is not physically present in class is at a disadvantage. Perhaps we can justify certain types of absences, but all too often students are pulled from class by an administrator or counselor when the student needs the instructional time. Even worse are parents who take students out of school for non essential reasons such as shopping.

STUDENT APTITUDE. If I am to be rewarded for the performance of my students, I want to teach all honors classes. Students in honors classes generally do better than other classes even when the students get lazy. On the other hand, a teacher must work extra hard when teaching very low level classes or remedial classes. In the lower level classes, the student may have difficulty with a supporting skill such as reading. The student may be unmotivated or discouraged by past failures. Success as measured on standardized tests does not come easy with these students.

SCHEDULING. Teachers seldom have any say in how classes are scheduled. Block scheduling is currently very popular. There are many advantages to a block schedule, but some students, particularly the lower level students, are not well adapted to the long classes of a block schedule. Even how and when lunch is scheduled will impact the class.

INADEQUATE FACILITIES AND INSUFFICIENT MATERIALS. Yes, a good teacher can teach anywhere, but good facilities and good teaching materials make a difference. One year the new building was not completed in time so we held school for two months in an abandoned court house. I was trying to teach Algebra with a 4 by 6 white board, in a courtroom with plenty of distractions. We made do, but I think more learning would have taken place in a conventional classroom.

SECURITY AND BEHAVIOR. Perhaps the most critical factor in any school is how the administration sets and enforces rules and policy. Students who do not feel secure may not learn well. Disruptive behavior interrupts the class and creates distractions. Destructive behavior degrades the teaching environment. The classroom teacher is at the forefront of behavior and discipline. In fact, the classroom teacher is charged with the duty of maintaining good class management. Even the best of teachers depends on being backed up by the administration and parents. Most good principals give teachers the tools and support they need to enforce classroom rules, but where the support is not forthcoming, there is little the teacher can do. Most problematic is lack of parental support. Parents who inappropriately oppose a teacher do a disservice to their child and to the other students in the class.

GANG ACTIVITIES. This relates to security, behavior and peer pressure. Gangs are common in many schools. They challenge the authority structure of the school and the classroom. Gang leaders may try to take over a class. Gangs will intimidate other student. An intimidated student does not feel secure and will not learn as well. A good cooperative effort between the teachers, the administration, security personnel and parents is required to prevent gang activities from disrupting the classroom.

The list of topics above is not exhaustive. There are other factors that influence educational quality either to the good or the bad. In general, the classroom teacher has minimal control over factors outside the classroom and relatively little control over some of the things that go on in his or her classroom.

An incentive such as a bonus is not likely to improve teaching excellence because there are so many influences that are beyond the control of the teacher. Rather than provide an incentive, it may provide frustration to the teacher who is doing their best but does not see the desired results. Worse than that, such incentives will encourage teachers to teach to the test or artificially inflate grades. We do not need teachers frustrated over test scores nor do we need teachers who feel obligated to cheat the system in order to get paid. We need to actively support our teachers with good facilities, good administrative policies and good parental support. We should then encourage the teachers to use these tools to give the students the best possible education.

Pay is nice, but the best reward to a teacher is to see a student learning at his or her individual capacity.

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