Bruno: More Thoughts On (Not) Paying Teachers For Master's Degrees
I got a lot of feedback on my post arguing that we should do away with bonuses for teachers with master's degrees and use the money for across-the-board raises.
Much of the response was supportive, but many people also objected to some or all of my argument.
Those objections tended to fall into three categories: that I am underestimating the value of MAs, that across-the-board raises are not a good use of money, or that the real problem isn't teacher pay per se but schools of education.
They're serious objections, and they made me think about some of the issues in new ways, but I don't think they are enough to avoid the bottom line I put forward in my original piece.
Read on to see the objections (and why I'm not totally convinced by them).
Objection #1: MAs may not improve student test scores, but that's a too-narrow view of teacher effectiveness anyway.
As I said before, it's entirely possible that MAs help teachers become better in ways that are not