Merit Pay Part 3

The Phi Delta Kappan reported on an initiative begun in 2001 to reform inner-city Chattanooga schools. The plan was multi-faceted (it included the firing of every teacher in the district- who were then asked to reapply, mentoring programs to train teachers, additional staff to support instruction, and more collaborative leadership in each school, among many other things) but became mostly known for introducing financial incentives to raise the quality of the teachers in the district and the therefore the quality of the education received by the students.

Performance bonuses of up to $5,000 for teachers who showed student gains were a major part of the program in addition to free graduate school and mortgage loans. This reform project was a rousing success: raising seven out of eight schools from an F to an A in the span of five years. It is an example often cited by Merit Pay proponents, but the bonuses were just one part of drastic large-scale reform that resulted in the creation of a supportive and professional environment and teachers feeling more respected in their communities.

Large scale overhauls like this one aside, there have been other instances noted where a merit pay initiative has resulted in little more than fraud. These include teachers focusing almost exclusively on one test, educators changing test scores, or assisting students with the answers. There is also evidence of schools tactical classification of special education and ELL students as well as misuses of punitive procedures to guarantee student absenteeism on test day (suspension, etc.).

It's worth noting that each scenario I researched returned positive results, albeit alongside a bevy of caveats. I think that a merit pay system could work, as long as it was designed with teacher input and not just a new set of criteria thrust upon them. It seems probable that confident teachers who already strive for excellence would be in favor of salary or bonuses based on performance if they could only ensure unbiased and fair evaluation of their abilities and effectiveness.

(Source: Phi Beta Kappan)