Performance Pay

Today in one of my education classes, we had a discussion about Performance pay. We had a structured "debate." We counted off by one and two so there were two groups who would be debating whether or not teachers should be paid more or get bonuses based off their students standardizing tests. To me, I was placed on the side that did not agree with teachers being paid off of how well their students perform on these tests, for example, the MEAP. I am still not exactly sure how I feel on this subject. I think that it is extremely hard for teachers to be judged solely off of their students test scores. There is so much more that goes into those tests. Such as students emotions and feelings. How they woke up that morning. If they are coming from a positive back ground,etc. This list can go on and on. I wonder though, why then these standardized tests are used to measure teacher performance. Consider a situation where a teacher is an amazing teacher, works super hard and tries his/her best to teach the students and for the students to learn. What if her students just are not good test takers? What if they get nervous and do not do well on the tests? I personally am a horrible test taker, but that does not mean that I do not know the material, I do know it. It is just hard for me to take tests like that. What then? What about that teacher he/she is just not good enough? I just feel there is so much more that goes into it that is not being taken into consideration. The government is making these changes and I believe they are going to happen sooner then later. As someone who will be entering the work force within the next few years, this makes me a bit nervous. I want to make sure that my students get the best education they can be. I want to be the one to give them that education. I think that it should be not about the money off the students but the teachers desire and the students desire to learn. How is this nation supposed to move forward if there are so many teachers and students who are not being considered into this situation. There is a lot to think about and I am sure much more information that I am not aware of (yet) but I am going to continue to educate myself on this situation and hopefully see what is going on and just try my best that I can. Teachers (most) do not go into teaching for the money, they go into it because they want to, it is something they want to do. So now that all this money is being "throwed" around, it seems everyone is worrying and doing this or that. I just think everything needs to be taken into consideration on a topic like this. Hopefully the government does just that.