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Thursday, June 18, 2009

Teacher Pay Hike Gets 'F'

By Andrea Schoellkopf
Journal Staff Writer
       New Mexico isn't getting its money's worth from its three-tier teacher licensing system that bumped up teacher pay, according to a report prepared for state lawmakers.
    The Legislative Finance Committee study found little connection between the state's highest-qualified teachers and student performance on standardized tests, and said classrooms with low-proficiency and impoverished students were more likely to have beginning teachers.
    The state invested $278.4 million by dipping into its permanents funds in 2004 to adopt the three-tiered licensure system and boost teacher pay in an effort to recruit and retain high-quality teachers.
    Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, said the Legislature was led to believe when it adopted the pay system that students would perform better with highly qualified teachers.
    "It was somewhat misleading," said Smith, LFC vice chairman.
    He faults a seniority system in which experienced teachers choose less-challenging schools and longtime teachers are "grandfathered" into highly paid positions without new certifications or job requirements.
    Top educators and union officials dispute the findings and question whether the study used the right criteria to measure success.
    The June 14 report said beginning teachers were overrepresented in high-poverty classrooms and had more students entering their classes with low proficiency rates. Conversely, top-qualified teachers tend to be in classrooms where students are already proficient.
    The study looked at improvement in elementary student test scores from 2007 to 2008 state assessments.
    The difference in student achievement among licensure levels was not significant, and gains weren't sufficient to increase proficiency levels overall, the study said.
    "Teacher pay and student outcomes are not related to the extent we'd like to see," said Craig Johnson, program evaluator for the LFC.
    The report also said income levels are a more accurate picture of the achievement gap than race or ethnicity.
    Education Secretary Veronica Garcia said the point of the three-tier salaries was to rid classrooms of unqualified instructors by bringing about a professional pay scale with professional requirements.
    "I don't think three-tier licensure is the only answer to that problem," Garcia said. "It's difficult to look at student achievement and say three-tier licensure did not make its intent."
    Recommendations
    The report recommended:
    n Bonus pay for high-performing teachers and greater incentives to teachers who relocate to high-need schools.
    n A greater emphasis on student performance during teacher evaluations, with goals for improvement.
    n Continued study of the link between teacher effectiveness and student performance.
    n That principals should take steps for teachers whose students perform poorly and develop action plans for their least-effective teachers.
    n Tightening requirements for the professional development dossiers that teachers are required to prepare for licensure to prevent possible cheating, and requiring evidence of student performance for the dossiers and evaluations.
    Ellen Bernstein, president of the Albuquerque Teachers Federation, said the report contradicts itself by first saying higher pay doesn't change achievement levels, and then recommending performance pay for teachers.
    "I object to him framing my work in that way," Bernstein said of the report's author. "Incentives like performance pay implies that teachers are withholding good teaching until they receive an incentive, and that is not true. Incentive pay doesn't help any teacher do a better job."
    She said while the teacher evaluation system does need improvement, she questions whether student test performance can be a reliable indicator.
    "It's not a rich enough piece of data," she said. "It has not been designed for that."

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