Paying for peformance, pt. II

In a continuation of last week’s post regarding giving cash incentives to students for high grades and attendance records. This week, I’d like to bring up the issue of merit pay, or cash incentives for teachers based on class performance. A few weeks ago, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Raymond Simon announced $13.6 million in Teacher Incentive Fund grants for four Florida school districts. The Florida grant is only one of 18 Teacher Incentive Fund grants, totaling approximately $38.2 million, to be awarded nationwide in this round of funding.

Launched in 2006 by President Bush as part of the American Competitiveness Initiative, the Teacher Incentive Fund enables states and districts to provide financial incentives to its educators for increasing student achievement and closing the achievement gap. The fund also provides incentives to educators who serve in challenging or underserved schools.

Merit pay has drawn criticism by some which fear incentives could be awarded based on favoritism rather than performance or that incentive pay could prove to be a divisive issue between teachers, schools, and districts that receive them, and those that don’t. Others however, might see it as encouragement for hardworking teachers, and as an incentive to attract talented teachers to underserved areas.

Are cash incentives a good idea? Does your opinion change when you consider it in the context of No Child Left Behind? Do you see any issues that might arise as a result of this?

Leave your reply in the comments section.


Posted By:
Som Carman
Advanced Academics

Paying for performance?

When I was in school, we often had many “motivators” for behaving well and doing our homework. In elementary school we got gold stars on our assignments, pizza parties for meeting our reading goals and field trips if we met attendance goals. In one middle school class, we actually got play money for class participation and good grades which we could use to buy things at an end of term auction. These days, play money has given way to real money.

This article on The New York Times website outlines a new program set to begin this fall in schools throughout New York City. Essentially, the program, which is part of a larger anti-poverty initiative, will use privately raised funds to give cash incentives to students and their families who meet established guidelines such as high attendance records, and performance on national standardized tests. One incentive under the plan offers $25 -$50 for a perfect score on each of 10 standardized tests in the school year, translating to up to $500 a school year. Students can also earn $5-$10 for simply taking the tests. The article also notes similar programs in Massachusetts and Texas.

No doubt that money is a motivator, but is it an appropriate way to increase student performance? What do you think, should gold stars and pizza parties be replaced by cold, hard cash?

Leave your thoughts in the comments section.

Posted By:

Som Carman

Advanced Academics Inc.

Assuring quality, assuring success

Quality Assurance Engineer. That is my official title here at Advanced Academics. When I tell friends and family what I do, the first response usually is “I didn’t know you were an engineer!” Well, I’m not. I actually graduated from college with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Information Systems, no engineering involved. However, after I explain WHAT I do, the reason for my title becomes much clearer.

As a QA Engineer my job is to test all applications within our proprietary online learning management system, ROADS. I test to make sure everything is working as it should, when it should. While I test the system from the perspective of all our users I feel the most important perspective is that of the student. As a student, I’ll access our platform at work and also from home using my practically extinct HP computer and Cox DSL. Many times I log in late at night and on weekends, like many of our students might do. I read the course content, complete homework assignments, take the tests and view the videos. I chat with our teachers and support staff using Instant Help. I’ll ask them to diagram things for me using the whiteboard, and talk with me using audio chat. I also send teachers ClassMail messages and post discussions threads in their classes. I do everything a typical student might do. Consider me the mystery shopper of online learning.

Of course, all of this is done to assure quality for all users: administrators, teachers, school proctors and of course students. After all, what good is a system if it doesn’t work or if it doesn’t make sense? Online learning at its core should be about enabling and enhancing the learning experience for all students, not the albatross that holds them back. Putting me in the shoes of our students is the best way to ensure that it is indeed "Online learning simplified."


Posted By:
Som Carman
Quality Assurance Engineer
Advanced Academics, Inc.

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