Tuesday, March 10, 2009

White House Press Release Gets a 95


Did this really come from the White House Press Office? The Chicago Sun Times reported:


The President will teacher quality by dramatically expanding successful performance pay models and rewards for effective teachers, scaling up federal support for such programs in up to an additional 150 school districts nationwide.

It needs improvement, in more ways than one. Pay for performance imploded Wall Street. CEO's widely cheated on executive stock options over a decade. Options were touted as the most pure form of pay for performance.

Why will it work better with teachers? Doubtful. Lazy, ignorant managers bribe people with pay systems that foster internal competition. Teacher carrot chasing can destroy innovation and kill intrinsic motivation.

Dramatic expansion of P4P should dramatically increase educator competition and stifle teacher motivation . If they're as smart as CEO's, expect selfish pay optimizing behavior, maybe widespread cheating. That's a theory based prediction.

"If you want people to do a good job, give them a good job to do." Dr. W. Edwards Deming

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