Florida is launching a first-in-the-nation merit-pay plan:
A new pay-for-performance program for Florida's teachers will tie raises and bonuses directly to pupils' standardized-test scores beginning next year, marking the first time a state has so closely linked the wages of individual school personnel to their students' exam results.
At least one principal there favors the new policy:
"The FCAT doesn't measure everything, but what does?" asked Principal A. Louise Harms, who has presided over significant improvements in test scores at the school. "It gives you something to shoot for."
But with such successes have come complaints. Under pressure to score well on tests, some school districts have moved school start dates back to early August to complete extra weeks of instruction before March exams. This has aroused the ire of many parents, and others have complained that with the tests have come too much pressure and too much homework.
