Parents, teachers and other stakeholders know that Georgia's high-stakes testing program is hurting our students. To roll back the over-emphasis on testing, our state must unlink student testing from educator evaluation, compensation and certification.

Teacher compensation reform proponents frame their proposals as "merit pay." However, Georgia school districts already have the ability to offer merit pay, and all districts can differentiate compensation for critical needs areas such as math and science.

The proposed overhaul of teacher compensation isn't about merit pay; it's about basing teacher pay on test scores. This is bad for teachers and worse for students. Students deserve to learn academic content and to develop as critical and creative thinkers from teachers who are focused on student instructional needs rather than on how that student may affect their pay.