Performance pay rollercoaster

Charlotte-Mecklenburg isn't the only place struggling with whether and how to link teacher pay to student achievement,  and how to pay for any changes in the pay plan.  Education Week reports that some states and districts are scaling back or giving up on performance pay because of the money crunch and/or the lack of proven benefits.

At the same time,  the article says,  federal Race to the Top grants are providing millions to develop performance pay plans,  which is leading others to join the hunt for a new way to pay teachers.  (CMS,  you may recall,  is tapping Race to the Top money to develop a performance-pay plan and to hire two new PR people to explain it and monitor coverage.)

Meanwhile,  the fall issue of EducationNext reports that the American public favors basing teacher pay at least partly on student test scores by a margin of 47 percent in favor to 27 percent opposed  (some chose neither).  Teachers were 72 percent opposed and 18 percent in favor.

It's part of a report on the annual EducationNext-PEPG survey of about 2,600 respondents across the country,  looking at an array of education issues.  The biggest change from last year: Increased support for vouchers.  But the poll also found increased public support for basing teacher tenure on student test performance,  up from 49 percent to 55 percent.  Only 30 percent of teachers favored that idea.

It makes me think those new PR folks may want to take notes from blogger and commenter Bolyn McClung,  who has been talking about "the existing system of pay-for-seniority and tenure."  Last year,  the debate revolved around the pros and cons of the emerging CMS plan,  which raised a lot of opposition and questions,  especially among teachers.  But most of the people I talked to,  including teachers wary of the CMS changes,  acknowledged that the current pay system is flawed.  I suspect you get a very different discussion,  especially among non-teachers,  if the question is "Do you want to change the current plan?" rather than "Do you trust CMS' test-driven changes?"