department of Duh

[Susan Harman <susanharman@igc.org>]

  Florida merit pay program favors affluent schools, study finds.

  Florida's St. Petersburg Times (2/24, Stein) reported that an experiment, in
  which teachers in Hillsborough County, Florida "agreed last year to be guinea
  pigs in Florida's controversial experiment with merit pay," provided results
  that "weren't at all what officials expected." Under the program, "teachers
  were compared only to peers in the same subject area" and rated using both
  test scores and performance evaluations. An investigation by the Times "shows
  that almost three-fourths of the nearly 5,000 teachers who received merit pay
  worked at the county's more affluent campuses. In contrast, only three
  percent of the educators deemed worthy of the $2,100 bonuses worked in the
  low-income schools that struggle most, where at least nine in 10 students
  qualify for free or reduced-price lunch." Further, "almost two-thirds taught
  in A-rated schools, where they arguably were least needed." These results
  "are fueling difficult questions about teacher quality and equity." The
  program is being revised this year, with Hillsborough officials "plan[ning]
  to break elementary and middle school teachers into separate categories based
  on a school's Title I status."

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