Treat teachers with flexibility

Why does our public educational system strive for uniformity in dealing with teachers yet expect teachers to treat each student uniquely? Doesn't that create a disconnect? Here are two example of uniformity on the teachers side.

• Public school teachers are typically slotted into a pay scale based on tenure and educational level attained. Both of those measures have a weak correlation with student achievement, which makes me wonder why we base our pay systems on those concepts to begin with. You can be an amazing teacher who helps lots of students succeed or a mediocre teacher and you both get paid the same. The only exception to this rule comes in the form of Christmas gifts from students. The really good teacher might get a few extra Christmas gifts.

• Recently in the school division I work for the teaching load of middle school teachers was increased by an additional class to bring the number of minutes taught in line with what the high school teachers were teaching. What seems to be fair on the surface is anything but that. The high school teachers teach three 90 minute blocks with a total of usually no more than 90 students. The middle school teachers have five 45 minute classes for a total of about 120 students. While both high school and middle school teachers have one planning period per day, for the high school teachers the planning period is 90 minutes long while the middle school teachers have a planning that is 45 minutes long. So middle school teachers have to teach more students and prepare for those additional students with less time. All of it for the sake of uniformity.