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Unfair to those that teach special education also...but it is a step in the right direction.

I have long supported Merit Pay, but, recently, I found I had to change my position due to fact I previously did not know. I will share these facts with you.

First, I agree with you -- "unfair to those that teach special education."

Second -- Also unfair to those who are not teaching special education, but have special education students literally "dumped" into their general education classes fulltime because the school or district "has no other place to put these kids,"

These are kids who have already been retained two or more years. Maybe even three or four years, and some of these kids are now middle school aged, but still in elementary school.

How can a regular, general ed teacher possibly be competing on a level playing field if she has 25% of her students "dumped" on her because the school or district is violating local and/or state law because these administrators never got around to creating required alternative education programs for these kids already retained two or more years? And, some of these kids not even qualify for special ed. They have may have missed it by a few points. So they are officially UNqualified for it.

In the past, the districts would "socially promote" these kids ANYWAY. But, now, states like Florida prohibit that practice outright, and will financially punish a school district that still does it.

In short, you have teachers now in two groups, beyond special ed:

1) general ed teachers who have students "dumped" in their class because the administrators in the school and or district were too lazy or stupid or uncaring to ever think about local and state law and the students; and 2) general ed teachers who do not have such students.

Now, see if you can guess which teachers' class is likely to perform better on tests?

I will take a WILD guess that it is NOT the teacher who has students who should actually be in special ed.

So, that hard-working teacher, who spend 80% of her free time thinking of how to keep peace in that classroom, will not get merit pay, even though she hsa to work much harder than the teacher whose class has every student on grade level.

Merit pay sounds good in theory, and for a VERY long time I strongly supported it. But, I don't anymore. Not until there is a level playing field for all teachers to compete, and we are nowhere close to that yet. I would like to support it again, but knowing how screwed up schools districts can be, I also know how badly screwed certain GREAT teachers will be under a merit pay system -- because for whatever reason, their class is treated like a dumping ground. (I mean no offense to students by saying that; I am just making a point.)