Teachers Pay Determined by Student CogAT Test Scores

posted by Karen Quinn, The Testing Mom - August 21st, 2011

In many areas across the nation the pay for teachers is exceptionally low, especially within the public school system. In the public school system, teachers who work at schools in very poor neighborhoods make even less money. There are some who believe teacher’s pay should be based on student performance on standardized tests like the CogAT, or Cognitive Abilities Test.

The CogAT and other standardized tests are used in many school districts as the primary means of determining student IQ, as well as how much knowledge students have retained from their studies. The argument for utilizing CogAT test results and other standard exam rankings to determine teach pay is that these test also measure how well teachers are performing. After all, student performance on such exams is largely based on the quality of the classroom education they are receiving.