Daily News

Bigger bonuses for effective educators at struggling schools

Judge Howard Manning’s blunt, maybe intemperate, message earlier this month may have had nothing to do with it. But Superintendent Francis Haithcock said Tuesday she is boosting to $10,000 the bonus to attract highly effective teachers to three of Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s lower performing high schools. High-performing teachers already at the schools will qualify for a $5,000 "stay put" bonus.

Good. Research targets highly effective teachers as a big factor in academic success. Students with consistently high-performing teachers over several years reap the benefits in higher academic performance.

Supt. Haithcock acknowledges that. She told school board members the system must get a higher quality of teachers to come into those schools, and keep the high-performing ones who are already there.

Her words echo those of Judge Manning, minus his hyperbole about "lazy" educators and "sorry" schools that incensed many people. Clearly, the Wake County Superior Court judge, who has been overseeing a statewide school equity case for more than a decade, has lost patience with the slow pace of state action on improving student performance. He said high schools that don’t show real progress or have 55 percent of students performing on grade level should be shut down and restructured.

Judge Manning’s frustration should come as no surprise. Though the courts have ruled years ago that North Carolina failed to provide to its neediest students the sound, basic education it is obligated to provide, too many students lag. That’s especially evident at the high school level, where 44 statewide have less than 60 percent of students performing on grade level. (more…)

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