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Albany, NY – STUDY LINKS PRINCIPAL COMPENSATION AND TEACHER PAY -
As schools resume for another term, debates over teacher pay and principal pay are being waged all across the country.
The Center for American Progress has issued a report called, Principal Compensation - More Research Needed On a Promising Reform. The center says linking principal pay to performance may be an almost necessary precursor to implementing performance pay for teachers.
The Center for American Progress is a nonpartisan, research and educational institute, and a Washington think tank. The study compared national data on principals and salaries over a ten-year period from 1994 to 2004. Plus it surveyed more than 13-thousand schools.
TBOOK gathered three of the main participants in this study together to try and understand more details of the investigation.
Glenn Busby reports. (7:57)
**(Attention Program Directors and Listeners. The website mentioned at the conclusion of the above story if you would like to read about the latest results is: www.americanprogress.org .)**
TEACHER PENSIONS EXAMINED -
As we talk on the program today about principal and teacher compensation, and how it relates to the quality of education students receive, another aspect of the overall discussion becomes apparent teacher pensions.
It's become a more prominent topic now that economic times are more difficult, and the baby-boomer generation is approaching retirement age in large numbers.
Some economists are now looking at how teacher pensions can affect the quality of teachers in the classrooms.
Professor Robert Costrell is in the University of Arkansas' Education Reform Department. He was contracted to take a look at Ohio's teacher pension plan and make recommendations. Here's what he found. And here's reaction.
Dan Bobkoff reports from Cleveland. (4:19)
MYTHS, LIES AND DOWNRIGHT STUPIDITY: GET OUT THE SHOVEL -- WHY EVERYTHING YOU KNOW IS WRONG -
Washington, DC's 4,000 teachers vote this month on a tentative contract. Among other things, it would offer teachers who are willing to forgo tenure protection, the opportunity to earn up to 131-thousand dollars by next school year if their students post significant learning gains.
Both the D.C. School Chancellor and the President of the Washington Teachers Union, are reported as saying the higher salaries would improve the district's ability to attract high-quality teachers to that school system.
Many Americans reportedly feel: teachers are underpaid; schools are underfunded; school vouchers are too risky; and educators who've been in the business of education for years, certainly know what's best for children.
Well John Stossel says, hold on. Let's look at this from another angle. Stossel challenges his audience to look at education from the opposite perspective. John Stossel is of course the co-anchor of ABC Television's 20/20 news magazine show. Long time listeners of The Best of Our Knowledge may recall we had him on our program as a guest several years ago, discussing his difficulties growing up as a stutterer.
Stossel has another book out. This one is called, Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity: Get Out The Shovel - Why Everything You Know Is Wrong. It's now available in paperback. Stossel spoke about his book at a CATO Institute Book Forum in Washington, where he tried to make a point that when it comes to education, common wisdom is often wrong. This is an edited excerpt of his remarks at the CATO Institute to conform to our time constraints.
John Stossel comments. (5:30)