A measure that would have given pay increases to teachers based on their performance in the classroom and not just seniority failed in the Beaver State last night 59 percent to 41 percent. But does it really mean that Oregonians don’t like the idea of linking teacher pay to hard work? Not really.
Over 59 percent of respondents to a national poll supported the idea of linking pay to performance and even President-elect Obama stumped for merit-pay proposals. But we also know that the referendum results have nothing to do with teacher quality or school reform and more to do with how voters get their information. As the blog Edspresso once reported:
“If you have 30 minutes to sit down with each voter – like you would with a legislator – you can make a strong case for why these reforms are important. But with voters, it’s all about five-second sound bites. The ‘this destroys public schools’ argument, no matter how bogus, rings clearer in voters minds than anything reformers can come up with.”
This is not a shot to performance pay, but a testament to the fact that we need to do even more to raise awareness about reforms that work.
Tags: barack obama, merit-pay, performance-pay, oregon, awareness, voter, reform
