MCEA Members For Reform - Voices of Teachers

Aileen Woolley is a social studies teacher at Sherwood High School.  This is her addition to the reofrm conversation.

Hi Mike-


You have gotten me thinking about merit pay. I am for it. My reasons are personal in that it would work for me and public – it should work for our profession.



For me, I want to be in a profession (like most other professions) where results and strong performance are rewarded. I don’t want any more “atta girl” kudos or notes from parents or notes in my professional file. I am not a volunteer to be thanked – I am a worker whose pay should be commensurate with the results I achieve. Surely we have education administrators and specialists who could create a fair evaluation standard that would not be dependent on one measure (like testing results), be as objective as possible, and flexible enough to be tailored to the particular job description of a particular teacher. For me, it would cause me to be more reflective about how I teach and more determined to be at the top of my pay possibilities. It would empower me to further change and experiment and search out credible strategies in all that I do.



For the teaching profession it is important to attract the best and the brightest. In the U.S. we are not. A recent study showed that teachers come from the bottom 2/3s of the graduating college class vs. the top 1/3 in other countries like Japan and Finland. Who would be attracted to teaching today? Obviously, not many of the high flyers. With the negative reputation of teachers, noncompetitive salaries in many regions of our country, and pay increases not in one’s power, no wonder promising students scoff at me when I approach them to think of a career in teaching.



It is a competitive world, it is a critical job – let’s roll and make changes.

MCEA Members for Reform- Voices of Teachers

More from the series on other teachers in MCEA who believe our current evaluation is not quite right. We don't all have the same ideas, but we agree that the current system can and should be changed- even in Montgomery County- where many many great teachers teach. Many thanks for all who participate.

I’m concerned that the current system does not distinguish among teachers based on their performance. To say that one group is “not meeting standard” and another group “meets standard” lumps together people with a very broad range of skill, experience, and effectiveness. I would propose adopting a new system in which teachers are compensated based on their demonstrated competence in their respective fields. There are plenty of observable, measurable behaviors that a trained observer *who is an expert in your field* (i.e. not a generic administrator) can readily identify. So I would advocate for paying teachers based on skill attainment, not mere longevity. And CPD credits? These are useful only insofar as they impact the teacher’s behavior.




I would also question the wisdom of paying all teachers the same salary. I happen to think my discipline (mathematics) is especially challenging to teach, and requires unusual efforts to teach well. Each level (ES, MS, HS) and each discipline comes with its own unique challenges, but I don’t believe the same level of effort is required across the board to produce the same level of success. So it seems unfair to me that all teachers get paid the same.



James Key

Math teacher, Sherwood High School

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MCEA Members for Reform- Voices of Teachers

In an effort to raise awareness and influence the conversation on performance based pay in Montgomery County Public Schools, I am starting a new series.   In these posts, MCEA members will voice their thoughts on evaluation reform.
The first contributor  is a social studies reource teacher and member of MCEA.

It’s broke. Let’s fix it! American students consistently lag behind their counterparts in other industrialized countries. The current American education model is not working. As educators, we can point fingers at a number of variables—bad parenting, bad administrators, poverty, the achievement gap, a “dumb is cute” culture, effect of technology on attention spans and literacy, No Child Left Behind, etc. Or we can be part of the solution to overcome these challenges and increase the quality of education our children receive. Our children deserve a fresh approach. We deserve to be compensated based on effort and growth, not to achieve some silly 100% metric, but to improve the quality of education for ALL students. We’re generally hard-working professionals. We’re not immune to accountability, high standards, and professional development. Professional growth must be incentivized. We need an evaluation and compensation system that rewards and promotes hard work. Yes, we should proceed with caution as reform is research and implemented. But the solution is not to reject any change to the status quo. A carefully designed and implemented system can benefit both children and educators.


-Joe Sangillo