Dr. Harry Alvis

  "The tax which will be paid for the purpose of education is not more than the thousandth part of what will be paid to kings and nobles who will rise up among us if we leave the people in ignorance."        — Thomas Jefferson.   In everyday life, "debt" carries a negative connotation - something to fear, avoid, or eliminate entirely.  A person or family certainly should not depend on it.  Which is a mindset that makes perfect sense. However, in the world of public school finance, debt is not only appropriate, it is necessary.  The personal finance mindset does not translate to public schools. Without debt, most schools simply could not operate the way communities expect them to.   Think about what we ask our schools to provide: Safe buildings Modern classrooms Secure entrances Functioning HVAC systems Up to date technology State of the art Career and Technical Ed programs Transportation Any facility that supports anything from acad...

“We’re the only profession where success depends on 25 other people’s choices—and then we try to pay based on it.” “Tying teacher pay to test scores is like judging a chef based on how hungry the customers were when they walked in.”                     - Unknown   More and more states have either implemented a merit pay system, or it is in the conversation stage as a silver-bullet solution for improving schools.  The idea is simple and appealing:   Reward great teachers financially, and student achievement will rise. Also, teachers who are not performing well,  will be motivated to do so.      But large-scale studies have struggled to confirm this chain of logic. One of the most well-known randomized studies—the Project on Incentives in Teaching (POINT) —found that bonus pay for middle school math teachers produced no significant gains in student achievement ( Springer et al., 2010). Simila...

  "Any fact becomes important when it is connected to another"                              - Umberto Eco   I don't think there is anyone out there who doesn't think that education could be improved.  No matter how "good" it is, there is ALWAYS the prospect of better on the horizon.  However, education is a very personal experience, and every person it is different.  What is highly effective for one, may not work for another.  For this reason, blanket "fixes" for the entire system have been nothing more than ways to produce headlines for political clout (that topic is a whole post by itself).  That is why my frustration grows at an exponential rate when non-educators decide they can "fix" our education system.     Reformers are POSITIVE that America's schools would be fine if teachers would just work harder, and they are sure they would do that if merit ...