Lesson four was all about standards  and whether or not they should be enforced in the curriculum. I feel as though standards set guidelines to let us educators follow, however some find it harder to work with these guidelines. In the following discussion you will see my approach.

 

Discussion 4 Question 1: In what ways can the use of standards improve the educational system? Describe.

The standards are basically a guideline, and are a way for students and teachers to be evaluated. The standards improve the educational system by setting a goal and meeting it, if standards are not met then someone is not performing correctly and that is a way to decide whether or not students are learning and teachers are effectively teaching. I feel like the standards set the expectations and the quality of our education. If there are no standards set then there is no guideline and if there is no guideline then how can a teacher determine what to teach and how can a student determine what to learn? Basically without standards the education system would be chaotic and unorganized. For example, in the video that school had very high standards and teachers were actually paid based on how their students performed and because of those very high standards and expectations both the students and the teachers perform at their highest levels.

 

Discussion 4 Question 2: What are some of the potential limitations? List and explain.

There are a lot of things that can potentially be a limitation. Such as money, illness, family emergencies, lack of support, bullying, and lack of confidence. If a student comes from a home with less money, then they will have less opportunities and wouldn’t be able to afford a lot of things such as tuition into these high performing schools. An illness can be a limitation because a person’s well-being effects everything that they do. A family emergency could result in time away from school or maybe even cause a student to dropout. Lack of support is a big limitation and teachers can effect this as well, if a student has lack of support then they aren’t going to feel as if they can accomplish things, and this goes the same of lack of confidence. Student’s motives can and do change based on their support and confidence levels. Bullying is one reason amongst a lot of reasons that students have a lack of confidence.

 

 

Discussion 4 Question 3: List and describe at least three (3) reasons why BASIS High School is the top performing public high school in the nation. Each reason you provide must be described in at least one paragraph or more - do NOT provide a bullet list!

The first reason that high school is the top performing public high school is because the standards are very high. Because the standards are very high that means that the students are expected to perform at a higher level and the teachers are expected to teach at a higher levels. Those standards are guidelines for the teachers to follow while they teach and students are tested on those standards in order to determine if they are absorbing the information and if teachers are teaching correctly. The higher the standards, the more they have to learn, and the more the teachers have to teach.

The second reason is because the teachers are paid based on the student’s levels of performance. I feel like this is a huge factor because if a teachers pay is only determined by how their students perform then they will be trying everything they can in order to make sure their students learn as much as they can and perform at their highest levels. One of the factors that I find the most influential factors of the teacher’s pay is that they get bonuses for their students testing scores. This also means that the teachers have to work twice as hard as a teacher paid on a salary because their pay isn’t automatically given to them, it is earned based solely on their teaching capabilities.

The third reason is their teacher’s credibility. In the video they made the statement that their schools performance is based on their teachers, and that most of their teachers have a Ph.D. in the areas that they teach. Because of this they have mastered the subjects that they are teaching and while they are not certified teachers they are certified in the subjects that they teach. The students are being taught by people that know the subject like the back of their hand because that is the only thing they studied in college and they became doctors in that field of study. I think the students learn more because they aren’t being taught by a person reading a textbook taught to them they are being taught by people who have mastered the information in that field that could probably write the textbook themselves!

 

Discussion 4 Question 4: Who is John Gatto referring to in his quote (above) as "some people"? Explain why "some people" would think that our form of schooling is "useful". Hint - you might have to do some Internet research.

            He is referring to the government. He is saying that the government run schools are useful because it’s easier for them to lead people when they are taught what they want them to be taught. The government ran schools are shaping our students’ minds into what they want them to be, they want to control how they learn, and what they learn so that in the future when those students become adults they will be easier to lead because they only know and learn what they wanted them to know and learn. It’s all about someone else controlling our education for their own benefits. “Some people” are the government, and the students are their pawns. Instead of looking at people for who and what they are they look at them based on titles, John Gatto’s entire piece called Confederacy of Dunces: The Tyranny of Compulsory Schooling is all about a façade and how American schools are being used for the governments benefit to control.

Summary:

            I found that BASIS High School was very interesting. It really made me think about how many teachers would actually do the job even if they got paid solely on their student’s success. As a student in high school I used to think that how I did on a test did not matter to the teacher and not until now did I realize that teachers are actually graded on how I am graded. I know that my teachers growing up were paid on a salary but to think that they were actually evaluated based on my performance really makes me wonder if knowing that back then would have changed how I performed in school. I think that might be one of the reasons the students from BASIS perform as highly as they do because they know what they do really matters and effects a lot of factors. As a high school student I did well, but I still could have improved and it makes me think about if I had known just how much my learning alone affected my teacher how I would have tried even harder to do well. I did not realize the importance of a single test score until now.

Research Question:

            Do teachers teach better if they are paid on their performance or a salary?

References:

http://parentsacrossamerica.org/performancepay/

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/education/teachers-should-be-paid-according-to-student-performance-fraser-institute-says/article14191465/

 

Research Analysis:

            According to the research from Parents Across America performance based pay is not the best option for our educational systems. It is said to be more of a political advantage than it is to be an educational advantage. Performance based pay is actually a new trend sweeping across the nation and there are many viewpoints on this topic. In a nut shell the website says that performance based pay will not improve teaching or test scores. The reasons why are because performance based pay will push talented teachers out of the system, performance pay sets colleagues in a competition against each other rather than working together, and it will cause even more standardized tests and evaluations than there are now. While performance based pay seems like it would attract good and talented teachers and push away weak teachers it actually does the opposite according to the research. Teachers want to be in supportive environments where they work together and all try to reach the same goals but instead performance based pay causes the teachers to try and outdo one another causing tension in the environment.

            According to the research teachers should be paid based on test scores. Student performance should be tied to the teacher’s pay according to The Globe and Mail website. According to the research if the system evaluates teachers based on their student’s success levels then that will help “weed out teachers who do not stay current in their subjects and do not keep up with effective teaching methods and strategies.” According to this research performance based pay will give teachers incentives to do better because they will be trying harder to get more money than what they would if they were just on a salary. They also feel that if teachers are paid based on test scores that z performance. One standpoint is teachers will be better for it and will encourage students to make higher scores

Research Summary:

            In all honesty the research did not really surprise me because I expected to see two very strong viewpoints on this specific topic. I myself believe that pay based on a teacher’s performance is not the best idea because a teacher can work very hard and a student could put in very little effort and then a teacher gets cheated out of the hard work they put in. Basically what I feel is just because a teacher works hard does not mean that a student will work hard and achieve the expected results. In the research it seemed like it would be an ideal situation but that is only if all the ideal factors are in place such as students performing in correlation with a teacher’s performance but that is not a reality. After reading the research and considering both perspectives I have concluded that I think salary based pay is the best option and should be how teachers are paid. Even though performance pay is a good way to evaluate teachers I think that an even better way to determine if teachers are doing a good job is to do heavier evaluations and more frequent evaluations in the classroom instead of solely basing their pay off of student’s test scores.