People Who Know What They're Talking About

Occasionally, we get to hear what they have to say:

Though many local education administrators agree there's a need to improve the public school system, they say Christie's proposal to evaluate whether a teacher is effective based on standardized test scores may be an overly simple formula for achieving success in the classroom. 

"I think this is another example of one of his simplistic solutions to a very large and complex issue," said Englewood Superintendent Richard Segall. "From the stuff I've heard so far, it doesn't deal with the reality that schools face, and it's not reality. He needs to spend some time in public schools to be more knowledgeable on how the school operates."

Mr. Segall, I understand your point, but let's not expose the kids and their teachers to any more of this man than we have to.

"Merit-based pay really has no impact on student performance," said Bandlow. "Let's not do things that just sound popular and ideal. Our kids are too important to be a part of something that has no impact on them. There's much more to what teachers do than guide students on a standardized test. It's a great evaluation, but that's only one aspect of teaching children."

Oh, my naive friend. They KNOW it doesn't affect student performance; that's not why they're pushing it. What they really want is to drop the average salary of teachers in NJ, then spread a little merit money around so they can say, "See, you can make lots of money as a teacher!" and point to one or two examples.

Merit pay is all about cutting teacher base pay.