BY CATHERINE GERKIS

The current method of determining teachers’ salaries at MHS involves a grid system. The number of years of service in the school district is placed on one column and the level of education, determined by degrees earned, is on the other. As teachers complete each school year, their salaries increase accordingly.       

 Proposals for change in salary calculations have arisen in many schools across the country. One such proposal involves factoring teacher success into pay. While it is true that some teachers are naturally better suited for their profession, success is relative.

Calculating teacher achievement is fairly impossible. One method of doing so would be to measure students’ success on standardized testing. However, inevitably, some teachers will be responsible for students with learning disadvantages, like students with disabilities or those whose second language is English. On the other hand, students of faculty who teach honors and AP classes will likely produce better standardized test scores.

The issue of measuring teacher success also puts younger teachers at a disadvantage. For the most part, teachers who have worked for only a couple of years will not have perfected their teaching methods yet. Under the current system though, the column for years taught addresses this problem, as it automatically factors in the fact that teachers’ skills will likely increase over time.

Yet another problem that many believe could be solved if teacher achievements were factored into salaries is tenure. Some people think that teachers with tenure have less incentive to teach well, placing students at a disadvantage while simultaneously reaping the benefits of yearly pay increases. However, would rating teacher success really be a satisfactory solution to this issue? There are surely less controversial resolutions.

Another proposal for a change in the determination of teachers’ pay is speaking with students at the end of each year for their opinions on the quality of their teachers. Students could be asked about the success of teachers’ methods, how much they felt they learned in their classes and how interested they were in the subject material as a result of the teachers’ efforts.

However, many high school students are simply incapable of accurately remarking upon their teachers’ performances. Some kids do not have the maturity required to give in-depth and genuine assessments of their teachers. Others might hold grudges against faculty members in whose classes they did not do well. Since student opinions on teachers are undeniably subjective, they are not reliable measures. Furthermore, results of such calculations would likely not be given much weight to calculate for numerous discrepancies.

Although the current system of determining salaries has its flaws, it is unbiased, simple, and for the most part, accurately reflects teacher ability. Those who teach for many years will presumably be better teachers as will those who have pursued their education to a deep extent.  Even the term “better teachers” is hard to define, and implementing any subjective and incalculable measures would be doing just that.