So long as we can develop some kind of grading curve for how "good" a teacher is, then I am all for it.
For instance, a teacher who purposely chooses the bad kids, or the less intelligent children, should have that weighed when determining how good of a teacher they are.
And, they should not determine "merit" based on standardized testing either. Because all that will do is make teachers do whatever is necessary to get their kids to pass that ONE test, rather than really focus on what might be important.
In my view it should look something like a teacher has a class, each student in that class has a GPA or just a grade for that particular course that the teacher is instructing; And over the course of the year if the teacher improves their grades and overall average, then the teacher is granted a higher "merit" rating than if they did not.
It's not fool proof, but it's the best way I can come up with to determine merit and who's a good teacher or who's not, and still taking into account the level of intelligence of the students they are facing.
Think of it sort of like boxing, a power punch is worth more than a jab -- in this case the bad or less smart kids would be the power punch.
Regardless of the sitaution, I definitely want some kind of accountability for teachers and more pay for them if they deserve it. That alone wont solve the problem, we need varied cirriculumn's based on a students learning style, and to remove standardized testing.
But holding teachers accountable is a necessary part of the equasion, and ugly part, but necessary. IMO.
Question:
Why can the U.S. military take an 18 year old screwed up un-intelligent kid and teach him how to drive a 5 billion dollar ship, guide cruise missiles, service and diagnose 500,000,000 stealth bombers, yet a teacher in a public school can't get them to learn Algebra 1?
Answer:
A lot of teachers can, but unfortunatly a lot can't -- and teaching is the only industry that people aren't held accountable for the performance of their job. If the instructor teaching the 18 year old how to command the ship keeps screwing up and causing kids to crash the carriers into other vessels, or mis-guide cruise missiles, guess what happens to that instructor? He gets removed. If he does a great job, what does he do? He gets to go instruct how to do more complex things and more important things -- and gets better pay while he does it.
The public school system should be no different in that regard.