“Idaho schools tie merit pay to parent involvement”

Idaho schools tie merit pay to parent involvement is the headline from a newspaper article that may sound like a joke, but it is true.

Obviously, I believe that teachers should encourage parent involvement/engagement, but now they plan to tie teacher pay to the number of parents who attend parent-teacher conferences? We’re accountable not only for student achievement, but the behavior of their parents, too?

Incredible.

And, just as teachers whose evaluations are based on student test scores feel pressured to do short-term test prep instead of emphasizing developing life-long learner, this kind of parent involvement merit pay idiocy will result it emphasizing just getting “bodies in the door” and not encourage the kind of work that will result in long-term and high-quality parent engagement (the kind discussed in my book).

This certainly will be added to The Worst Parent Engagement Ideas list.

You might also be interested in The Best Resources For Learning Why Teacher Merit Pay Is A Bad Idea.

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