Teachers Aren't Widgets!!! (Psst! What's a Widget?)

I completely agree with Timothy Daly's argument that the widget effect is keeping good teachers from doing their best to give a good education to students--a major reason the status of the teaching profession is in its current condition. The widget effect is the idea that school districts can't distinguish between high- and low-performing teachers, treating them the same and failing to reward good teachers. Many schools rely on the seniority system, directly linking the number of years teaching to a teacher's experience and quality of his or her work. A great teacher who has been teaching at the school for five years will be on the chopping block long before a mediocre teacher who has been teaching for twenty. This kind of thinking is counterproductive to elevating the status of teachers. Why would a teacher even attempt to improve the quality of their work if the only aspect of their career anyone cares about is the number of years they worked? I know from personal experience that seniority does not make good teachers. Basing a teacher's tenure on seniority doesn't encourage them to do well; to the contrary, it gives them an excuse to kick back and not do their job, because they've had the job longer than anyone else. Such indifference to the performance of teachers will not only fail to raise the status of the profession, it will ultimately lower it over time, as people realize that a frightening percentage of the teachers suck. If we are to ever see good teachers raised to the status that they deserve, we must begin to distinguish between their successes and failures, rewarding the good and losing the bad. By doing so, teachers will ultimately gain more respect in the nation, and education itself will get a much-needed shot to the arm. Now if I could just figure out what a widget is...