State Superintendent of Education wants to overhaul teacher pay (updated with opinion pieces)

Image by Flickr user Forty Two.

Update February 9: The Post and Courier columnist Brian Hicks has penned a response to Zais's plan to monetarily award teachers based on their effectiveness.

Hicks makes a solid point in the fact that each year, teachers will be dealt a new set of students with different learning curves. He compares each incoming class to a game of Russian Roulette and highlights the fact that teachers will most likely be graded off of standardized testing - a means of evaluation more than 60 percent of teachers sat they don't think offer an accurate picture of student work.

Hicks makes some other poignant points in his piece which you'll find right here.

First reporting: South Carolina schools chief Mick Zais says teachers' salaries should be based on their effectiveness, not their seniority or credentials beyond a bachelor's degree.

The Republican state superintendent wants to move teacher and principal salaries into a pay-for-performance system. A proposal in the House could direct Zais to develop such a plan by Dec. 1.

Zais does not yet have specific numbers. But he told The Associated Press the state's best teachers should be paid much more.

He says teacher salaries should be based on how much students learn during the school year, along with evaluations from their students, parents, principals and fellow teachers.

A teacher advocacy groups says any compensation plan should pay teachers for advanced degrees.

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