The Cost of Teaching

1. A part of this article, the main part which I ocused on, covers the topic of experiments being conducted for teachers for merit-based pay. They say that "it is too early to tell if the merit pay plans enacted in the past will avoid the problems of the forerunners," but they're still trying to figure it out. Utah has passed a law which gives money to school districts, allowing them to set up their own merit pay system. A program in California gives mentor teachers $4,000 extra each year. In Florida, a "career ladder" plan was enacted. There would be a test on subject matter that teachers needed to pass, the teacher would need to receieve a superior performance evaluation by an observation team, hold a master's degree, and have four years of teahing experience.
2. The author's argument is constructed by using a lot of information from state legislatures. Many states have given school districts money in order to see what the outcome would be from merit-based pay. It is too early to determine the effects.
3. The author doesn't have a definitive argument in this section of the article. However, they include opinions from teacher's unions and school officials who have a positive outlook on merit-based pay, so it would seem that this article is in support of the movement. They just use the information provided from state legislatures to inform the audience so that they can make a decision on whether or not this will be a positive change.
4. I can use a lot of this information given, especially the information about all of the state legislatures and the laws being passed. Perhaps I can find another article that will discuss the outcome of these experiements. I will cite many of the statistcs on the money given to school districts and the teachers. One quote is from a member of the teacher's union: "School Superintendent Jay Robinson, who designed the program, called it “a significant risk,” but for a worthy purpose. He said it is intended to remove the possibility that a student will be assigned to a mediocre or poor teacher. “This plan, if properly implemented in the long run, will ensure that all teachers are outstanding,” said Robinson."