Considering these pros into action, there are cons to it. Higher salary based on standardized tests will have negative effects. More manipulation of test results will occur within this. If school board officials are seeing that students are achieving higher test scores, they will take action and give teachers the bonuses, but what the school board does not know is that the teachers are the ones manipulating the tests for their own benefits in this case for money. “Cheating teachers are on the rise as figures show the number illicitly helping children pass GCSE and A-level exams has trebled in the past two years” (Turner). The amount of stress standardized testing gives to one can cause this type of cheating on tests by teachers. Teachers feel all this pressure when they see they will get bonuses based on the scores their students receive and if they are not a good teacher they will have to improvise and manipulate the results just to get that one bonus they crave badly. “There were 388 penalties issued to school and college …show more content…
When competition of merit pay are in hand, not only are teachers in for it but as well as administrators, school boards, and school districts. More individuals will want to become teachers because they will be hearing about the bonuses in pay. “Pay-based incentives for student achievement create competition--either subtle or overt--among colleagues” (Magill). Every student deserves to have a good learning environment without facing problems with their teacher and the teachers colleagues. “Teaching is a collaborative process that requires cooperation, support and teamwork for the benefit of students” (Magill). At times competition can be good for an individual to show off what he or she have in them, but when it comes to teaching students, competition can go
Kohn explains, “The competition turns schooling into a quest for triumph and ruptures relationships among students doesn’t just happen within classrooms, of course. The same effect is witnessed at a schoolwide level when kids are not just rated but ranked, sending the message that the point isn’t to learn, or even perform well, but to defeat others” (Kohn 4). When I was in high school, I took a few honors and AP classes. With being in advanced classes where grades are the most important to students, I saw how competitive it got between students. Students would always compare grades and saw each other as threats.
“A large portion of your salary will be based on a system of bonuses. The largest chunk of those bonuses will be connected to student performance on standardized tests. If your students don’t do well on these tests, you won’t receive your bonuses, and you may well be
Raising the pay for teachers will increase the quality of the education
The silence in the room, with only the sound a pencil makes with the paper, produces the heart-thumping atmosphere standardized testing gives to students. Most students experience the overwhelming stress that is brought upon their academic life from SAT, ACT, or any standardized tests. They see them as one of the most important factors for college acceptance. The constant worry that sits on their shoulders will not disappear until testing is over, and there is nothing they can do about it until they hopefully get a letter from their dream college.
Going Against the Standard According to Tim Walker, “Only 14% of parents say standardized testing is important in measuring school effectiveness” (Walker). A standardized test is a test that is given in a consistent or “standard” manner. Standardized tests are designed to have consistent questions, administration procedures, and scoring procedures. When a standardized test is administered, it is done so according to certain rules and specifications so that testing conditions are the same for all test takers. They often provide some type of “standard score” which can help interpret how far a child score ranges from the average student (Johnson).
It is no surprise that the past few years it has been difficult to get the appropriate amount of teachers for school. There are people turning away from the teaching field as an option due to the little amount of income it provides. Even teachers who have been teaching are dissatisfied with their job due to the multiple jobs they have to take on in order to pay their bills. However with this pay increase, teachers will want to continue their teaching careers. A school can’t be run without its teachers and this pay increase provides the school with the teachers they need.
One of the biggest flaws is standardized testing has not improved student achievement. " Despite using them for several decades, policymakers and educators do not yet know how to use test-based incentives to consistently generate positive effects on achievement and to improve education." So if these tests aren’t improving our students, then why do we have them? I believe we need to change the tests or improve them somehow so that we do see some sort of improvement. Tests are very crucial to education because they show what a student knows, if we took these tests out completely then we would have no idea if students are improving or declining.
A friend’s party, recess, and qualifying for the sports team are a few of the common factors that revolve around a child’s life. Unfortunately, the list doesn’t include education. Administering standardized tests will aid in amending the remissness in our future generation of career professionals. Due to the fact that standardized testing provides an opportunity of change from a world of fantasy into a reasonable one, this method should be enforced throughout the nation.
Imagine this: you 're a teacher at a very prestigious school, with an exceptional group of students. Your students try their hardest, but some subjects of the curriculum are more difficult than others. Most kids do well on the tests, with few slipping through the crack, and the only thought you have is, “how will this affect my paycheck?”Merit pay, according to google, is the raise in pay based on a set of criteria set by the employer. Merit pay is nothing but pernicious to not only the teacher, but the student and school as well. Pay for performance leads to no improvement in teaching by stripping teachers of their motivation to teach, and also leads to a narrower curriculum and ultimately more test prep and money.
“Kids should be satisfied with the warm fuzzy feeling of accomplishment.” Is this possible when being paid for good grades? When paid for good grades, students are no longer learning for a better future, but rather just for the reward of money. If the purpose of school is to educate, does the prize of cash take that away? From students feeling not needed pressure, to taking away the natural motivation to learn, to not remembering the material presented, students should not be paid for good grades.
The teachers that were cheating were most likely to be younger and less qualified. After this was found out, a retest was administered and enough evidence was gathered to fire the cheating
In Next Question: Can Students Be Paid To Excel? the topic of whether students or teachers should receive incentives for good test grades is addressed. Many school districts believe that letting students earn rewards is the best way to improve their grades. Schools aren’t just using monetary prizes, they also give out gift cards, fast food, and parties for the classes. Individuals that oppose the solution believe that students should want to learn for themselves not because they will receive the incentive.
The source that supports this claim is an article by the NEA, National Education Association. “Many teachers also say paying leads to.. conflicts with students, parents”, claims NEA. This means students will tell each other about how much they are earning, and if different price ranges surface there will be feelings of jealousy. To add on, students will be mad that someone putting in the same effort for their grades are earning more, and conflicts will arise. The effect of this is students will complain to parents to upgrade their amount of money given, and the cycle continues yet again with an increase in jealousy, anger until some of the most important relationships in a student’s life is ruined.
Accordingly, paying students for good grades lower self-esteem when they don’t succeed in what they desire to succeed in. When considering the choice of paying children for good grades to not paying kids, the choice should definitely be to not pay kids for good grades. Nevertheless, kids have lower academic performances, and rewards are given when the student actually deserves it. The students that want to obtain rewards is different from students who know they will earn the honors. Students shouldn’t obtain money for good grades, as in the long run, it will influence
Even if schools pay their children, when they stop their rewards, the grade goes down. Clearly, paying students for good grades have no long-term