Money To Teachers

In recent days, the Bush administration has opened up $42 million "for teachers who raise student test scores", according to a CNN.com article. This money comes just weeks before the mid-term elections which have the possibility of Republicans loosing control. But this increase in funding is a clear tactic that the Republicans are using to gain more votes.

Don't get me wrong, giving more money to teachers is a good thing. But this is going about it in the wrong way...at the wrong time. This teacher pay increase will go to teachers that raise test scores. This is expanding on the failure of NCLB and clearly will not help in the long run. Test scores on a standardized test should not be used as the only indicator for achievement. Other factors need to be accounted for. I cannot say what would be the best indicators, but I do know that using test scores as the ONLY way is wrong. Many different factors could hurt teachers instead of helping them. One case could be in a large Spanish speaking school, when given a standardized test, in English, they would perform lower because of the fact that a language barrier could/does exist. The students could actually be learning more from the teachers, but the federal government looks at all schools at a national level on the same scale to each other. But this is flawed because all schools are different, and teachers use there best judgment when it come to what is achievement for there students. Standardized tests should not be used as the only indicator for this grant money and this policy so close to the elections is wrong, plain and simple.