Pay on Merit?

Coming from a typical polititian's standpoint, paying teachers based on student merit sounds great. The students of great teachers will perform to a higher level than the students of a poor teacher. Right? After all, teachers are the one and only influence on a child's success in the classroom.However, when an educator looks at a student's success they see more than one class, one teacher, or even one school making a student successful. A politician that bases a child's success on a standardized test does not see the leaps and bounds a students could have developed in school to prepare them for the workforce or a blue collar job. They don't see the social skills that a student may develop to get along with others in a job that requires cooperation. Politicians only see a means to compare students through standardized testing. A great teacher should not be judged by how a student fairs on a standardized test, but on the inpact the teacher makes to the student's life. To punish a teacher who is trying their hardest to reach a student who has no parental suport behind them or a student that has to worry more about their safety on their way home from school rather than the upcoming MME. If a school district is doing a good job monitoring a teacher's performance in their career before tenure and even after tenure they should be able to weed out the poor teachers. To link financial rewards to testing will only hurt education. Teachers will teach to the test and forget about life skills, hard work, and inginuity. The reality is that a program like President Obama's education-reform will not lead to students who can problem solve or even think independently.Check out the brief article below and tell me what you think!http://www.edutopia.org/poll-teachers-rewards-student-performance