GRE Example Essay: Teacher Salaries Based on Student Performance
GRE Analyze an Issue Essay Prompt:
Teachers' salaries should be based on their students' academic performance.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim. In developing and supporting your position, be sure to address the most compelling reasons and/or examples that could be used to challenge your position.
Watch the video where I write this essay LIVE: https://youtu.be/3eGCLQiBdss
Brainstorming:
Mostly disagree
Body 1: academic performance is impacted by a lot of different factors (many that are out of a teacher’s control)
My brother had cancer and I was unable to focus in class, do homework at home, etc. grades struggled but it was no fault of the teacher
Harry Potter: their performance struggled in their first year because they had to fight the snake
Body 2: difficult to actually measure academic performance (usually use standardized testing, for example)
Education has a big debate about absolute improvement (compared to expected knowledge) vs. improvement over the year (compared to previous years’ progress)
Foreign languages: difficult to evaluate speaking skills (which are actually most important)
Body 3: concession: it would good for salaries to be based on performance because 1) purpose of school 2) creates usually good incentives for teachers. REFUTE: 1) two reasons I’ve mentioned, but also school serves other purposes (socialization with other students). 2) could create perverse incentives (encourages teachers to teach to the test, help students cheat)
Essay:
Teacher salaries have been a hot debate topic for decades, as teachers greatly influence the development of children all around the world. I mostly disagree, however, that their salaries should be based on the academic performance of their students for several reasons. Firstly, academic performance has many influences, not just a teacher’s efforts. Also, performance can be difficult to measure. While salaries can create a good incentive structure for teachers, they often may not work as intended.
As stated, there are many reasons that a student may perform well or not in school. Much of the time, teachers cannot control these factors, even if they try to. For example, when I was in elementary school, my younger brother was diagnosed with leukemia. My parents had to focus on taking him to the hospital and caring for him, and my attention was primarily devoted to getting myself to and from school on time rather than paying attention in class. I did not have parental supervision to ensure I completed homework or read books outside of class, and because I was so young, I did not complete some big projects I was assigned. My teachers tried to help, but with all the other students in the class, were unable to “parent” me, so my grades suffered during that time. It was not the teachers’ fault that this happened. As a result, it is clear that sometimes teachers can make a big effort but their students’ performance is still out of their control.
In addition, academic performance can be very difficult to measure. In the education field, there has been extensive debate about how to measure student improvement; whether students should be compared to an expected standard for their grade/age level, or whether their improvement over the course of the year is more important. This problem has not been “solved”, and it is difficult to imagine that a school district could come up with a good compromise that all teachers would be happy with, considering their compensation would be tied to the results. Moreover, there are certain classes that make it difficult to score or measure progress. For example, in elementary school, there are many PE, music, or arts classes that are based mostly on participation. For foreign language classes for older students, reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills should be measured separately, and usually students are better in some skills than others. With 4 different types of skills, overall academic performance can be hard to summarize. Particularly for elective classes, academic performance can pose a challenge to measure.
In certain situations, it admittedly would be beneficial for both students and teachers for teacher salaries to be based on student performance. Students making academic progress is the main goal of school and higher salaries for higher grades usually creates good incentives for teachers to teach more effectively. However, school also serves other purposes and teachers can provide other benefits to their students outside of just teaching material. For example, students can learn to socialize with others, and teachers can serve as their mentors, particularly if they are interested in their teacher’s specialization. We often hear about how much a teacher has impacted their student – this is rarely because of the material that they were teaching. Additionally, having salaries tied to student performance could encourage teachers to ignore important skills (such as critical thinking) that are not tested on standardized tests or to help students cheat. Neither of these situations would be beneficial for students’ long-term development.
Students learn and grow in school based on their teachers’ efforts, but also other factors outside the school. Much of their improvement cannot be measured well. While salaries tied to student performance can be helpful, they can also harm students just as much as they help them. As a result, I disagree that salaries should be based on specific measures of student improvement in school.
