Independent, objective tests like Texas' STAAR exams should play some role in determining how much teachers receive through a merit pay program
Now that their 2019 session has ended, Texas legislators deserve credit for increasing the state’s share of spending for K-12 campuses. They also earn applause for giving school districts money to reduce the property tax rates they use to raise local contributions to schools.
This one-two punch should help increase the state’s portion of education spending, which is only right. The state should assume the lion’s share of spending since schools are a creation of the state.
But in the rush to expand state funds for items like teacher salaries, lawmakers decided against using results from state achievement exams in any merit pay plans districts might offer. True, legislators approved some funds for plans that reward teachers for their classroom performance, not just for elements like their seniority. But they explicitly said results from STAAR tests cannot be used in those plans to evaluate a teacher’s classroom performance.
That is disconcerting since STAAR exams assess how well a student grasps what the state wants them to know in subjects like reading, math, and English. The hallmark of the tests is that they are created through an independent, rigorous process so they don’t show favoritism in any part of Texas.
It would seem only natural that independent, objective tests should play some role in determining how much teachers receive through a merit pay program. The state, as well as taxpayers footing the bill for those raises, should at least have some idea of how much value a teacher adds to their students’ grasp of the state’s education standards.
I am not saying STAAR results should be the only metric in evaluating a teacher’s performance. The Dallas school district’s Teacher Excellence Initiative (TEI) uses results from the STAAR exam in assessing an educator’s effectiveness. But the TEI also uses data from student surveys and a principal’s classroom observations when determining pay increases based upon performance.
Those other metrics make sense. But leaving objective data out of a merit pay plan doesn’t give a full understanding of what constitutes best practices.
