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HIGH POINT, N.C. -
Guilford County Schools is considering paying teachers based on student performance and, in the coming weeks, will hold several public forums to collect feedback and develop a model that best fits teachers and students.
Amy Holcombe, the executive director of talent development for the school system, is organizing the forums and said she hopes they'll help the system develop a plan that works well for everyone.
"This is going to be the best chance that teachers are going to get to get higher pay," she said Tuesday. "We need employees and community members to come out to the forums and talk to us about what they want their compensation plan to look like."
The most difficult part of the plan will likely be identifying the criteria teachers would have to meet in order to be eligible for additional pay.
"Are we looking at student achievement? Are we looking at student growth? Those are two different things," said Holcombe. "Are we looking at both of those together? Are we looking at employees' attendance?"
Andrew Corbin, a theater teacher at Southwest Guilford High, said he supports the idea of rewarding teachers for high-performing students, but he isn't sure how to go about doing that.
"If I take a group of kids to the North Carolina Regional Theater Festival and we get awards and notoriety and we have the best actor, should they pay me more? I don't know, because it's all subjective," he said.
Corbin points out the biggest problem is teachers can't choose their students.
"You have a whole fruit basket of kids in there and one day, the best kids may have the worst test scores," he said.
Parents also seemed to agree that the idea of rewarding teachers is a good one.
"In our family, we have a lot of school teachers and they are really good teachers, but I know one complaint has been that the pay is not that good, and I think it's a shame that they would lose good teachers like they are," said parent Linda Gleason.
"I think overall that would be a big plus, a definite incentive to them to continue to do a good job in the school system," said another parent, Laurie Graves.
Holcombe said she'll gather the feedback from the public forums and present a model to the school board. If approved, a performance-based pay system would be implemented in the 2010-11 school year.
The public forums on the issue will be held on Monday, Nov. 23, at two Guilford County high schools. The first is at 11:30 a.m. at Southwest Guilford High and the second is at 5 p.m. at Smith High.
Amy Holcombe, the executive director of talent development for the school system, is organizing the forums and said she hopes they'll help the system develop a plan that works well for everyone.
"This is going to be the best chance that teachers are going to get to get higher pay," she said Tuesday. "We need employees and community members to come out to the forums and talk to us about what they want their compensation plan to look like."
The most difficult part of the plan will likely be identifying the criteria teachers would have to meet in order to be eligible for additional pay.
"Are we looking at student achievement? Are we looking at student growth? Those are two different things," said Holcombe. "Are we looking at both of those together? Are we looking at employees' attendance?"
Andrew Corbin, a theater teacher at Southwest Guilford High, said he supports the idea of rewarding teachers for high-performing students, but he isn't sure how to go about doing that.
"If I take a group of kids to the North Carolina Regional Theater Festival and we get awards and notoriety and we have the best actor, should they pay me more? I don't know, because it's all subjective," he said.
Corbin points out the biggest problem is teachers can't choose their students.
"You have a whole fruit basket of kids in there and one day, the best kids may have the worst test scores," he said.
Parents also seemed to agree that the idea of rewarding teachers is a good one.
"In our family, we have a lot of school teachers and they are really good teachers, but I know one complaint has been that the pay is not that good, and I think it's a shame that they would lose good teachers like they are," said parent Linda Gleason.
"I think overall that would be a big plus, a definite incentive to them to continue to do a good job in the school system," said another parent, Laurie Graves.
Holcombe said she'll gather the feedback from the public forums and present a model to the school board. If approved, a performance-based pay system would be implemented in the 2010-11 school year.
The public forums on the issue will be held on Monday, Nov. 23, at two Guilford County high schools. The first is at 11:30 a.m. at Southwest Guilford High and the second is at 5 p.m. at Smith High.
