School Choice

[Khendraja'aro]

A) Judging results instead of methods is itself objective.
B) Choosing the results to focus on is subjective.
C) Any method used to obtain the results is subjective.
D) Deciding which factors to control for when looking at results (i.e. not every teacher gets "the same" class) is subjective.

You're forgetting one important aspect: Results and the rules by which results are gained are universal, i.e. fair, all have to achieve the same results within a defined error margin.

That does not go for judging methods of teaching - since the methods vary wildly, there'll be no universal standard and it will be highly subjective.

I'm all for supervision, training and feedback to teachers in regards to their way of teaching. Making their pay dependant on the way they teach - not so much.

If he gets good results and the pupils are content, why exactly should a teacher be paid less just because he doesn't use an "approved" way of teaching?

I think the problem of sclerotic teacher unions is intertwined with the problem of sclerotic bureaucracies. Like any large corporation, massive urban school systems become bloated, crusty and slow. They institutionalize their existence more than their actual job.

Education needs flexibility, new ideas and constant experimentation. These attributes need to be part of the workforce of teachers, as well as the actual practice of teaching.

There's nothing more detrimental to kids than educating them in a massive corporatist network with an entrenched bureaucracy.

Then attack this bureaucracy instead of choosing an ineffective proxy. As I said: You're trying to bleed out this bureaucracy in the hopes it will go away eventually. That's like going into another room, closing the door and hoping that the big bad wolf will have starved by next week.
Not a good idea.

And experimentation? Good idea, that. Won't work with Loki's idea of making a teacher's pay dependant on the way of teaching, though