Earlier this week I got an email from a Butler High teacher worried about losing North Carolina's pay supplement for teachers who earn National Board Certification. Last summer's session brought unpleasant surprises for teachers, including the elimination of extra pay for master's degrees and the phase-out of tenure. With changes to teacher compensation a near certainty for the 2014 session, she wondered if anyone was eyeing the National Board pay as a pool to tap.
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| Jennifer Lunsford at Rocky River |
Morrison said he and leaders of other N.C. school districts would resist any move to cut the supplement.
"It is a way to show the commitment to quality teachers in our state," he said. "It's working really well the way it is now."
Jennifer Lunsford, a math teacher at Rocky River, talked about the work she did to earn her certification. She had to video and critique her own work in the classroom, analyze her lessons and provide evidence of her impact on student learning. She fell short the first time, then worked with advisers to improve her skills and try again.
"The process helped me become more honest with myself," she said. "It's hard to deny what you see on the camera."
Morrison noted that his wife has twice earned the certification (no, she doesn't work for CMS). The work load is staggering, comparable to earning an advanced degree, Morrison said. "It's like the best professional development," he said. "It makes you look in the mirror and say, 'How do I improve my craft?' "
CMS hasn't yet analyzed whether board-certified teachers rated higher than others on new state value-added ratings, which crunch student test scores to determine how much teachers contributed to their gains.
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17 comments:
These national tests are the real deal as opposed to masters degrees handed out like candy.
Why are teachers punished for poor performing so called students anyway? Half of public school students are completely hopeless and do not need to be even near a public schools unless in a program that trains them to be blue collar skilled workers.
Unless for qualified academic students a liberal arts education is a joke for at least 50% of all students. This includes college liberal arts. People forget all this liberal education crap anyway as soon as the class is over.
Change the law to make public school an option only and not mandatory is the only solution. This will save the taxpayers trillions and end the govt losses for unpaid loans.
End all sports scholarships for public universities and get the scandal riddled NCAA out of education period that is nothing but an enabler for pro sports and getting kickbacks by the billions.
The NFL is going out business anyway within 10 years with the massive brain injuries of which 90% are faked.
Americas priorities are way out of whack. Cut welfare food stamps by 50%. Cut fake disability by 90%.
Stop forcing taxpayers to fund college and pro sports. Pro sports suck and nothing but a racket ripoff for these greedy scumbags stealing and extorting 50 million each off America.
Abolishing all pro sports would be the real answer.
I believe nbct deserve money for this but to receive 10% extra for the rest of a career (for one year of extra hoop jumping) is overkill. I just retired and I noticed that not all nbct were strong teachers. In fact some got flat outworked by many who were not. Some were just more motivated to find a way to make more money. I knew one teacher who went into his classroom office to do the mountain of paperwork requird to earn certification while all his students did was worksheets. He did little teaching that year. I always thought it would be a better use of money to pay extra for the extra services some teachers do. Like putting on the prom, sponsoring clubs, tutoring after school, chaperoning acivities, buying extra supplies. Some teachers do these things every year some never do. Being a nbct means you went through the hoops but does not mean you are a valuable asset to your school. P.S. nbct tend to be given better classes because of those letters next to their name, their schools will surely be higher.
Where is the story asking companies to step up in Charlotte and adopt whole schools.
Car repair shops to offer discounts and free rides to schools for the day of repairs for Teachers.
Imagine the help Teachers could get if we tried.
The fact is that employees will game just about any performance system. Especially where money is involved.
You're probably always going to have higher "certified" employees who are worse than those without certification.
It's a game.
And those who know how to play the game and are willing to play the game usually beat those who don't.
At the game, if not the actual work.
And that's not just in teaching.
National Boards don't seem to be much of an indication of anything.
Some of the best and worst teachers in my building have their Certification, and it's been that way at every school I've ever worked.
Why is it so damn hard to understand how obvious it is to everyone in the building who the good teachers are?
I know we love numbers, but the "performance pay" model we need is one where people who actually know the teachers decide if they get performance pay.
Empower principals and throw out the stupid tests.
Anon 7:17am.
I tend to agree with most of what you're saying.
I doubt that professional sports will go away, though. Or that it should.
But the school connection should be eliminated.
Sports "signing days", especially National Signing Day for football, is apparently a bigger deal in schools than graduation will ever be.
Our education priorities have definitely been warped by the professional sports pipeline with its promises of ever-more-dubious sports "scholarships".
That's a cultural problem, though (like Roman gladiators), which will be nearly impossible to fix unless the Empire crumbles.
I don't know about the nbct vs. Masters, but I suspect there are some pretty weak Masters programs out there.
All Masters degrees are not the same. Just look at the variety of degrees called "MBA" out there and you'll see. I don't see why people should get the same compensation for just any degree or for just any school.
Since going to HS, I've always thought that making HS optional would be a good solution.
Most of the kids aren't getting better than a decent eighth grade education anyway.
That and provide optional vocational HS for kids interested in that path.
That way, the riff-raff have no excuses for hanging around ANY HS (academic or vocational) and disturbing others.
They can go get their minimum wage dead-end jobs.
Or choose a life of crime, and go to jail.
And once they get THAT out of their system, they can pay for an education later.
Or maybe they'll wise up and study considering the bleak alternative.
But, the way we're doing it now just isn't working.
And I mostly blame parents and students for that, not teachers and schools.
I think "the village" has done its part.
It's time for the individual family to step up for the rest.
People just do not appreciate what is given to them for little or nothing.
We have hundreds of thousands of public housing units which prove that.
Ann, idea for upcoming blog. Ask the CMS high schoolers what one thing they would change about high school.
Or maybe CMS could put it in their surveys that few return.
8:05, while I somewhat agree with your post about throwing out tests and empowering the principals, it is not so easy. In many, many schools, the principals are the biggest issue, even considering the illiterate baby mamas. A new version of the old boys network has emerged and these principals are helping all their "sistas" to the tax payers' trough and they are guzzling it up.
I still think a peer evaluation is the best but it is the most challenging to do with just everyday issues at schools. The teachers know who are the stars and who are the albatrosses.
11:59, that's an interesting concept. As much as I'd like to think I have young readers, I wonder what the ratio of actual student answers to adult commentary would be.
They won't cut anything else until after elections. That's why they gave the half ass raise.
I can't belive only 1/3 of teachers are getting a raise. The younger cheaper teachers.
With the raise the "TEACHER OF THE YEAR" would have been better off working at Burger King.
Everything MOrrison and the BofE says in the papers is a lie. They truly do not care about the pay and benefits of teachers. Look at all the programs and administrators that could be consolidated. Follow the money Ann. Just look at the budget #'s.
PowerSchool was down for a week months ago and we are only now getting stories about this inept system and the nightmare it has caused teachers, students and families.
Wake up and vote.. Tillis, Mcory and Heath all must go.
February 28, 2014 at 7:20 AM
wrote:
"I knew one teacher who went into his classroom office to do the mountain of paperwork requird to earn certification while all his students did was worksheets. He did little teaching that year."
And, apparently, no one either noticed or complained or did anything about the complaints.
Ain't that grand? What other job on the planet would let you get away with (or actually REWARD) that?
Maybe THAT is what's wrong with education in the US.
It's not about the kids or education anymore.
to 11:59am and Ann, it could be done through high school principals or twitter. It would be interesting to hear what the high school students have to say.
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