Why Is Performance Pay For Teachers Not On Table?

The president talks it up. The education secretary is for it. But if you read Katherine Poythress' examination of teacher compensation this week, one thing that stood out was that performance pay for teachers barely seems on the radar in Hawaii.

It's not like Hawaii's public schools don't face many of the same challenges in raising student achievement that schools in other states do. Or that we're doing so well. The state is generally closer to the bottom than to the top in national comparisons.

But paying teachers based on the quality or impact of their work doesn't seem to be on the table here.

Let's start with some givens.

• Teaching is hard work.

• The quality of a teacher is the most important factor in how much students learn, grow.

• Teachers deserve to be paid well for their efforts.

A compensation system based almost entirely on rewarding longevity doesn't work when people have so many other occupational opportunities.

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