Top teachers could get extra $20k in Houston

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Original Article.

HOUSTON — Top teachers could have shot at an extra $20,000 if they are willing to move to a struggling school under a federally funded pilot program.

The Houston Independent School District will be a test site for a study looking at whether a good teacher can get the same results anywhere.

The top English and math teachers in grades 4-8 will be eligible, but only about 20 teachers will be selected, the Houston Chronicle reported in its Saturday editions.

Interested teachers must be willing to commit to a two-year stay and already have a two-year record of improving student scores on standardized tests.

The school district will rank the teachers the same way it does to calculate performance bonuses and those in the top 10 percent will be eligible to apply for the Talent Transfer Initiative program.

But the district’s largest teacher union, the Houston Federation of Teachers, complained the process was flawed.

“They’re basing their selection on flawed data,” said union president Gayle Fallon.

Similar pay experiments aimed at luring proven teaching talent to challenged schools have struggled.

The Palm Beach County school district in Florida dropped its program after few teachers pursued their $7,500 incentive.

The Dallas school district also struggled to attract enough teachers with a $6,000 per year incentive so now Superintendent Michael Hinojosa wants to raise it to $10,000.

Patricia McNeil, a math teacher at Johnston Middle School in Houston with 30 years experience, said the money would not be enough for her to move. She is not sure she could produce the same results in a school that for example had high absenteeism.

“If I’m proven to be an effective teacher somewhere, then I want that same latitude and support given to me in another place,” she said.

“I don’t think it’s a question of moving one teacher to another building and thinking that’s going to be a solution,” she said.

This is a very interesting idea. I don’t know enough to figure out if it will work, but I don’t see the harm in trying. If the teachers are willing to move and take the risk, than why not. I also don’t agree with the union rep, although I would like to see the data to make an informed decision.

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