Earlier this month, the progressive school leaders insisted on declaring attractive incentives to special education teachers to tackle the labor shortage issue. This move made a great impact on San Diego School District authorities to sign $10,000 bonuses to teachers. Dan Goldhaber, who is pursuing education at the University of Washington, expressed that along with a collaborative and collegial environment, the extra payment would definitely impact the leadership.

What Happened in the Past?

Though the incentive decision is a smart move taken by San Diego Unified authorities, this is definitely not the first attempt to attract teachers with remittance. To carry out the mission of putting one teacher in every classroom, dozens of districts have offered big checks to entice educators to do their jobs. After Barak Obama’s ruling period, the government has numerous decisions for the future of education. This included expanding charter schools to cutting down teachers’ tenure.

Moreover, the most favored reforms involved Merit pay and paying teachers extra to work in high-poverty schools. As Merit pay put money directly in teachers’ pockets by increasing the students’ scores, this idea stole a march on the other concept. However, many teachers slammed this idea as it was too subjective and unfair. Another one, working in high-poverty schools, was also a hardship pay.

As teachers in high-poverty schools have a tougher job than in prosperous schools, it is incredibly hard to keep teachers in such schools. As a result, poorer schools in the San Diego district tend to have less experienced teachers. However, the hardship pay idea did give better results than Merit Pay. According to a study, a $20,000 bonus created magic and brought high-quality teachers to high-poverty schools. These teachers worked really hard for better outcomes and 60 percent of them stayed even after two years.   

Awaiting Accomplished Mission

According to Richard Barrera, a union-backed board member for San Diego Unified, teachers don’t just accept high-poverty jobs because of money. These teachers are passionate and share the sense of the mission. Additionally, supportive principals and a collaborative environment make them comfortable to teach in appropriate ways that impact the student growth ratio. This decision by San Diego Unified would definitely help perennially struggling schools. It now awaits positive results from all schools. 

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