Old School by Single Malt from our Flickr pool

If you’ve been following the negotiations between the Seattle teachers union and the Seattle School Board over a new three-year contract, then you might be a bit confused, or totally clueless. Not to worry. The new contract, which the union voted in favor of yesterday evening, should make Seattle’s teachers a little more accountable, and we’ll all be smarter for it (or at least the kids). The new contract will implement a unique system to evaluate teacher performance and reward great teachers while flagging those who perform poorly. It’s quite unprecedented actually.

Some background, quickly. Merit-based pay has been a pillar of reform-minded liberals in recent years and gained steam with the ascent of the Obama administration. It seems like an obvious idea: superb teachers should be rewarded while poor teachers should be thrown out. It’s simple in theory, but difficult to put into a contract with teachers. Washingtonians haven’t taken much interest in such grandiose reforms and we’ve suffered for it, losing out to millions of dollars in federal education grants.

The new contract is a step forward, albeit a step into murky waters. Teachers don’t want to be judged solely on the standardized test scores of their students. Who would? Under the new contract no teacher can be fired solely from their student’s test scores – but they can be flagged and placed on a probationary period.

Sounds great, right? Then you’re going to have to vote for it (most likely). The new contract includes some pretty weighty bonuses for well-performing teachers who churn out some great students ($3,400 – $5,400 a year) – or who work in lower performing schools ($2,000 bonus). Not bad for an underpaid teacher. It turns out the school board is low on cash so they’re going to force the increase in spending to a vote on a property tax levy in November.

So you want better teachers? Time to pay up.

Source