I would like to respond to a portion of Chad Mohammed’s Thursday column in which he said, “The merit-pay plan is flawed and simply will reward teachers for teaching in areas with students of higher socioeconomic status and punish those who teach students of lower socioeconomic standings.”
Senate Bill 736 is not a perfect bill, but this claim is demonstrably false.
The language in the bill repeatedly and explicitly states that teachers will be judged based on “student learning growth.” Assuming that the state and school districts ultimately employ a system similar to that in Tennessee, teachers will be evaluated on whether their students matched, exceeded or did not match the growth that would be expected of those students based on their current level of achievement — based on three or more years of data — prior to entering the class.
It is disconcerting to hear these false claims repeated ad nauseam when there are far more important and pressing debates to be had — like how to pay for it. The fact of the matter is that all students can learn regardless of their socioeconomic background. They just need good teachers.
There are plenty of issues with SB 736, but let’s focus on the actual issues and not on the falsities propagated by certain entrenched interests.
Editor's note: This letter refers to this column.
