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And thank goodness the unions do block that. As 448 and Dino are saying, what about the poor sap teacher that has a remedial class with a lot of special ed students who may hate school altogether and/or severe behavior kids who refuse to follow any directions and make their lives miserable? They would be screwed when pay day comes, that's for sure because their kids aren't outperforming anybody, but that doesn't mean they are any less valuable as a teacher.
Who would be dumb enough to teach those classes in a merit pay setup, knowing they would always be on the very bottom of the merit pay scale due to their class' performance, not to mention have a job that's 10 times harder than the Physics teacher who has a cakewalk day teaching to the best of the best behaved and motivated kids in the building? You wouldn't be able to find anyone crazy enough to put up with that for less pay than somebody who teaches advanced classes but hardly ever deals with discipline issues. There's a reason for the unwritten rule in schools that all faculty members know. You don't piss off your special ed teachers because they are dealing with the problems that nobody else wants to every day.
Not a workable system.
You are missing my point on merit pay. We need to come up with a way to judge Teachers on how well they teach and pay them accordingly that does not mean i want a situation like you describe. I want it to be more than grades or test scores but effort and commitment to their job some how measured for these teachers. The Unions are the problem because they stifle innovation and reward mediocrity.