Reference no: EM132957729

Please explain:

1. It is ethical to pay the teachers regardless of their performance because I feel as if their performance cannot be accurately determined and the process that teacher performances are evaluated can lack transparency and may be beyond teachers' direct control. Nor can implementing a merit pay program such as the value-added approach be able to reflect an accurate performance or success of a teacher in a classroom. Due to the fact, the performance outcomes of teachers are based majorly on factors they have no control over such as student's behavior, test scores, test results, etc., and as a result, it is affected by the student's personal life experiences, competence, abilities, intellect or their overall openness to learn. Thus, it will be unfair to decide the pay of teachers based on the factors which they have little control over making it very difficult to take a side on whether it is ethical to implement merit-based pay or not. In fact, as stated in the reading, research has shown merit pay does not always lead to better outcomes and the discrepancy in the algorithms can miscalculate teachers scoring. I think it will be ethical to pay teachers without taking into account their performance outcomes because of the nature and scope of the job, essential functions, environmental demands, educational experiences, and professional competence.
2. It is not ethical to base teacher's pay on key performance indicators that may be, to some extent, beyond a teachers' control. It would be improper or unfair to hold a teacher responsible for a series of factors, such as a student's behavior or test scores that does not reflect a teacher's performance or contribution. Bad attitudes or poor grades are not necessarily a reflection of a teacher's performance. The attitude of the student is not regulated by the teachers. Students' scores do not accurately reveal a teacher's ability to teach. Test scores/grades reflect a student's mental health, home life, and class attendance. For example, a student was not proactive throughout the course and his grades reflected the inconsistency in the class. The bad grades could be contingent on individual student situations or lack of participation, not necessarily the actions performed by the teacher. In addition, there are several external factors for poor grades such as distractions/lack of focus, test anxiety, ineffective study habits, lack of confidence, communication issues, organization issues, learning difficulties, etc. Basing a teacher's pay on something over which they have no control is unfair and can result in an inaccurate evaluation of a teacher's performance.