Pamela Grundy and Carol Sawyer, in "The push behind a new flurry of testing" (May 15 Point of View article), pointed out a very alarming trend in public education policy - teacher pay being based on student performance. If you want to pay me on how your child performs in school, then give me that child 24/7, compensate me for the trouble and expense, then pay me for that child's performance. Short of that, lobby for the kind of teacher compensation and working conditions that will attract the kind of quality professionals you would want guiding the development of your child's mind and skills, and work on increasing your child's performance at home.
In fact, if we want to use incentives to increase student performance, target the parent/guardian. Instead of vouchers encouraging people to leave public schools, as is being favorably debated, what about vouchers for those who stay in the public schools and do their part to make sure their children master the material they are being taught? A school-ready child is much less costly to educate. Let the parents responsible for that child being school-ready benefit.
Meanwhile, do your part to make sure your school district is attracting the best and the brightest to teach your child. It would then be even more in your own interest.
