Re: “True performance pay for Jeffco teachers,” Sept. 11 Mike Rosen column.
“Performance pay” is the sexy term being thrown around in education. It sounds right to say that teachers should receive pay increases for outstanding performance. And many of us agree that it sounds good, even though there is not any conclusive research that indicates pay-for-performance models in education improve student achievement. The much larger issue is the “market-based” pay scheme that Jeffco school board president Ken Witt sprung on the board and district leadership that teachers are outraged about. Who determines the market value for a particular teacher and how? This “market-based” plan is just another way for this conservative majority to continue to withhold compensation but blame it on the teachers for poor performance.
There is only one other school district in the country that uses such subjective system, and it is Douglas County. If we are to continue in their footsteps, let the exodus of great teachers begin and the plummeting of test scores will follow.
Lori Rubin, Denver
This letter was published in the Sept. 16 edition.Mike Rosen states that it is “preposterous” for the Jefferson County School District to have only 1.7 percent of its staff identified as ineffective teachers. He asserts that the evaluation bar is perhaps set too low. Does this mean that the only way to prove to Rosen that Jeffco schools have a fair and reliable teacher evaluation system is to increase the amount of ineffective teachers in the classroom? This is very confusing because it defies the goal of the Jeffco school board to put a highly effective teacher in every classroom.
If one is to follow Rosen’s logic, then a school district must always have a specified percentage of poor teachers in the classroom to validate the good ones. One can only hope that is not what Rosen really means.
Renee Farrar, Lakewood
This letter was published in the Sept. 16 edition.
