Time to reward good teachers for hard work: luttes syndicales à prévoir?

La réflexion n'est pas bête, mais j'imagine déjà le combat pour y arriver...

Sur le site Indystar.com: http://www.indystar.com/article/20110403/OPINION08/104030340/Time-reward-good-teachers-hard-work?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Opinion|s

If good teachers really matter, then it also makes good sense to do everything possible to keep effective educators in the classroom, regardless of their level of experience. Yet, as it stands in many districts, top-notch young teachers lose their jobs when layoffs hit while below-average educators are allowed to stay in classrooms solely because they've been on the job longer.

This week, the Indiana House is expected to take up Senate Bill 1, which, among other provisions, attempts to overhaul the state's system for evaluating and compensating teachers. Under the proposal, teachers would be rated as highly effective, effective, improvement necessary or ineffective. Salaries would be frozen for teachers judged to be ineffective or where improvement is necessary. In time, highly effective teachers would reap better financial rewards than their peers who struggle to motivate, inspire and discipline their students.

Even more important, administrators could more accurately identify teachers who are underperforming and then take appropriate steps either to help them improve or to eventually move them out of the classroom.

Not all educators are intimidated by such proposals. Members of a group called Stand for Children -- which includes local teachers such as Jamil Odom, the 2011 Indiana Teacher of the Year runner-up -- visited the Statehouse last week to lobby for SB 1.

They argue, and rightly so, that teacher quality is the most important factor within a school in determining how well students perform.

That doesn't mean that poverty isn't an obstacle or that parental involvement is unimportant.

But taxpayers willingly pour billions of dollars into Indiana schools each year in part because they understand that education is critical in helping families overcome the cycle of poverty and enabling children to rise above their parents' mistakes.

Teachers who find ways to help their students achieve, despite the obstacles in their path, need to be recognized and rewarded for the heroes that they are. That's not a slam on the teaching profession, as it's sometimes portrayed; it's an acknowledgement of the critical role that great teachers fill.