The $125,000 Question

With state after state confronting massive budget problems, several governors have been looking to extract whatever they can from public employees like teachers, going after benefits packages and guaranteed job security that unions have won for them. But would teachers be willing to give up those protections for a chance to earn a lot more money (CBS News)?

I have been working in academia, both as a teacher and coach, for almost 8 years now and it is from that experience that I would guess most teachers would answer "no" to that question? If the number one complaint of most teachers is their salary, then why would I say that most teachers would not be willing to give up "protections," especially job security, in order to earn more money? The answer is simple. It is because most teachers are not good teachers and need the job security and pension that unions have won for them to ensure that they can keep being bad teachers.

American students rank 25th in math and 21st in science compared to students in 30 industrialized countries. By the end of 8th grade, US students are 2 years behind in the math being studied by peers in other countries. 68% of 8th graders can't read at their grade level, and most will never catch up. The national high school graduation rate is only 70%, with South Carolina having a low of 54%. Poor education, and in the case of dropouts, a lack of education is a financial drain on American society. Dropouts from the class of 2007 will cost our nation more than $300 billion in lost wages, lost taxes and lost productivity. Dropouts contribute about $60,000 less in federal and state income taxes. Each cohort of dropouts costs the U.S. $192 billion in lost income and taxes. A lack of education is one of the strongest predictors of criminal activity. A dropout is more than eight times as likely to be in jail or prison as a high school graduate and nearly 20 times as likely as a college graduate. Each year, the U.S. spends $9,644 per student compared to $22,600 per prison inmate (broadeducation.org).

Are teachers solely to blame for the above statistics? Absolutely not. Personal accountability of students as well as parental influence have to be examined, however if a company was underperforming where does the CEO look to place blame first? Ineffective employees. I believe it is time for America to start to run our entire education system, kindergarten-college, like a business. Institute better teacher performance review systems throughout our schools. Make teachers EARN protections like tenure and pensions. Get rid of the bad teachers and PAY the good ones.

This is exactly what one New York City school is trying to do. The school is called "TEP," which stands for "The Equity Project." TEP is a charter school that is publicly funded, but privately run. The school was founded on the premise that attracting the best & brightest teachers and holding them accountable for student success is the essential ingredient to a school's success. The school also understands that in order to get the best teachers, just like a business you need to pay them, and pay them TEP does. The school's teachers earn $125,000/year, more than double the national average, and triple the national mean. When school founder and principal, Zeke Vanderhoek, was asked why he pays his teachers that much money, his answer was straightforward. "Because they're worth it, because teachers are the key, and if we can pay them this with the existing dollars, why aren't we doing it?"

Does simply paying a teacher more money mean he/she will be a better teacher? Absolutely not. "I don't think paying people more makes them a better teacher. You take a mediocre teacher, you double their salary, nothing's gonna change. So, if you wanna attract and retain talent, you have to pay for it. And that is ultimately how student achievement will be impacted," says Vanderhoek. So how does Vanderhoek know if he is hiring quality teachers? Because he is directly involved in the hiring and assessment process of all teachers at TEP. To find the best teachers, Vanderhoek launched a nationwide talent search that's been called the "American Idol" of education. Thousands of applicants sent in resumes and those who made it to the final round had to spend a day trying out in front of a very tough crowd, Vanderhoek and the students. What was he looking for in the candidates during the detailed interview process? "Their ability to produce some evidence that the students in their classrooms move from point A to point B. In order for students to demonstrate that growth, they have to be into it. And so the teacher has to be able to engage students. The difference between a great teacher and a mediocre or poor teacher is several grade levels of achievement in a given year. A school that focuses all of its energy and its resources on fantastic teaching can bridge the achievement gap."

How does Vanderhoek afford to pay TEP teachers $125,000/year? By running the school like a business with harsh performance reviews and proper budgeting. The higher than usual salaries come with higher than usual expectations, and unlike most schools, those who don't meet Vanderhoek's standards will be shown the door. There is no tenure. In fact there are no contracts. The teachers work at-will, meaning they can be let go at any time for not performing to the high expectations of their high salaries. Budgeting is also a key element to being able to pay the high salaries. The school survives on public funding alone, and Vanderhoek is able to pay his teachers well by reallocating resources. There are no state-of-the-art facilities, in fact classes take place in trailers. And the money that would go to pay for an assistant principal, reading specialist and other staff goes into teachers' salaries. But that means the teachers and Vanderhoek have to do those jobs as well.

Vanderhoek is not the only person who believes that schools need to spend more time and money on seeking out and keeping quality teachers. Most people who study education reform believe that the key to improving education is with better teachers, and that starts with figuring out who the better teachers are. The traditional way that school districts go about finding quality teachers is by looking at a teacher's academic & cognitive qualifications like the degrees & certifications that a teacher has earned. Guess what? Researchers have found that credentials like test scores, graduate degrees, and certifications, as much as they appear related to teaching prowess, actually are bad predictors for teaching success. Jacob Kounin, an educational researcher, believes that he best way to tell a quality good teacher from a bad teacher is through a measurement that he calls a teachers "withitness." He defines "withitness" as a teacher's ability to communicate to his/her students and command the classroom. Kounin believes that the only way to determine a teacher's withitness is by watching a teacher in action.

The best model for determining a teacher's withitness, and therefore determining who will make a good teacher and who won't is the same model that the financial services field uses to determine who make a good financial adviser and who doesn't. Ed Deutschlander, co-president of the North Star Resource Group, puts his new-hire candidates through a 4-month "training camp." During the camp the candidates are asked to act like real financial advisers. Deutschlander says, "they should be able to obtain in the 4-month period a minimum of 10 official clients. If they can, then we know that person is at least fast enough to play this game." The candidates that make the cut through the training camp are then hired as apprentice advisers. From there, Deutschlander believes that it takes 3-4 years to see whether someone can make it as a full blown financial adviser. By that time, Deutschlander says that only 30-40% of the apprentice advisers will make it.

The apprenticeship model that Deutschlander and the financial services profession uses can be applied to the teaching profession. Using this model teaching candidates would be rigorously evaluated on their actual performance, and tenure would not be routinely awarded. Apprentices would get apprentice wages, but when good teachers are found they should be paid well. Why? Because we want good teachers to stay and because the only way to get people to "try out" for what will now be a high-risk profession is to offer those who make the cut a healthy reward. Ed Deutschlander believes that it takes 100 interviews to find 1 quality financial adviser. In addition, he spends large amounts of money to figure out who has the particular mixture of abilities to do the job well. "If you are willing to to make that kind of investment and show that kind of patience, you wind up with a high-performing financial adviser," says Deutschlander. Critics say this method won't work in education. Taxpayers won't want to pay the costs associated with trying out several teachers to find one good one. Teachers' unions have been, and will continue to be resistant to moving away from the current tenure system. Well, maybe the critics are right, it won't work for the teaching profession. What then, does it say about a society that devotes more care & patience to the selection of those who handle its money than those who handle its children?