Tying teacher's pay to their standardized test score results is a really, really bad idea, and will likely lead to even more people leaving the profession and make it even harder to recruit new ones. I read an article when this new system was first discussed that it had already been tried in the Houston, TX public schools and it was such a disaster that some teachers took it to court and a federal judge sided with the teachers and overturned the pay system. Supposedly there will be other metrics, such as teacher observation reviews by school administrators and how many extracurricular/leadership roles teachers take in their schools, but I suspect that Republicans will have it eventually come down mostly to test scores.
Also, not every subject has a state standardized test anymore, so I wonder if that means they're going to bring back standardized tests for all subjects, which isn't good for the students. One reason NC cut back on the number of standardized tests was because they noted the stress for students and the sheer cost of giving so many standardized tests. This will likely prove to be a major screw-up, but it will give the NC GOP another excuse to divert even more money to charters and vouchers.
I found the article discussing the Houston, TX case: "There are numerous problems with the value-added system, on top of
the overall failure of using standardized test data to improve teacher or student performance. In fact, an EVAAS-based system for teachers was attempted over a decade ago in Houston, TX. Research by experts in the field found that
the system was a failure, and that EVAAS produced data that was no better than random numbers assigned to teachers. Houston teachers took the system and EVAAS to court,
where experts laid out twelve damning findings about the value-added model and the
US Magistrate agreed with the teachers, saying “high stakes employment decisions based on secret algorithms (are) incompatible with...due process.” The suit had been filed in 2014;
the court ruled against EVAAS in 2017."
Link to article:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/peterg...pays-teachers-its-a-bad-plan/?sh=49199bf11d7a
