The $125,000 Teacher

If you read much about education, one of the cries of the critics that we frequently hear is that we should pay our teachers better. As a former educator myself, I would agree with this. On the whole, for the work they do, teachers are grossly under-compensated for their jobs - highly stressful, physically, mentally, and emotionally demanding. I think from the outside looking in, teaching looks easy, but if you want to do a good job, it's not easy at all.

So, I was excited to read, and to share with you, good reader, this article:
Next Test: Value of $125,000-a-Year Teachers
This school in New York City is paying its teachers $125,000 a year. Just look at the quality of applicants they had - brilliant people, and all of them are teachers of some sort. They were observed by the new school repeatedly, under normal teaching conditions. Excellent! Perhaps if we instituted elements of this process in the hiring of classroom teachers, we would generally have better teachers. All of them seem to be very enthusiastic about educating youth. I think it's wonderful, but all this does not come without a price. They will open with 5th grade, but with plans to expand as time goes on.

There are no assistant principals, no deans, no substitute teachers. The teachers will work longer hours, more days, and have 30 students per class. Also, the teachers can be fired at will. So, it's not all a bed of roses. However, I am very interested to see how this school performs against the other schools in NYC, as well as other urban schools in the US. Will the teachers be able to teach effectively with all these other responsibilities and concerns? We shall see.

- Jason Dean