Not a bad idea with election season coming up:
The program to reward high-performing teachers with salary stipends is part of a long-term effort by President Obama to encourage education in high-demand areas that hold the key to future economic growth — and to close the achievement gap between American students and their international peers.
But this won’t increase student performance or economic growth. This will only reinforce the idea that the government knows teaching best and that government officials are the best judges of good teaching.
If, as teachers, we buy into this teaching meritocracy, we are buying into a our worth being determined by someone else.
Is that what we really want to be teaching students?