What do you think about merit pay for teachers?

Question

I have to debate merit pay for a graduate class and wanted to use a survey. Do you think merit pay improves student learning? Why or why not?

Answer 1

With todays teachers nothing will help not even the children teaching them selfs and thats saying alot.  Teacher = bad bad = teachers.  That or students are bad but kids are never bad so I know teacher are.  Unless of course teachers are kids then teachers are good.  Get the drift or do I need to simplifiy it for you?

Answer 2

Really Magpie? Today's teachers are so bad...perhaps you would prefer the classes of old, where teachers were allowed to physically punish students?

Merit pay has some value, however will it be based only on one test's results? There are so many variables that affect how a student performs in class.

In my class I have several students with parents in jail. I have students who have alcoholic/drug addicted family members, I have one student removed from her home due to abuse, I have a student with Conduct Disorder, I have 9 Newcomers to the US who speak limited English and I have two students tested for Special Ed who just don't qualify because their IQ's are just low.

To base my pay on whether or not these kids achieve an arbitrary mark is not realistic. You will see teachers cheating and that's just a fact.

It already happened back in 2001-02 when teachers were given incentives for test scores.

I would rather see merit pay based on a variety of components, test scores, overall improvement of students ( how far did the teacher take them), observations by admin and parent input.

Answer 3

When merit pay is discussed it always comes down to deciding which teachers are the best based on student test scores.  the problem is that teachers, while they are generally good people, are no different than the general population.  If their level of pay is dependent on test results then they (most will cheat.

Answer 4

Ugh!

Teachers are not bad...

But I do believe the system is quite broken and teachers are constrained to work within a very broken system.  

Merit pay for teachers? Does it improve student learning?

I think that would depend on how the merit pay is determined.

Would it be based on standardized test scores or some other measures?

Seems I heard of a merit pay program in some state or other based on NCLB year-to-year progress... the problem with it? The teachers got a pittance of the merit bonus and the administrators took the lion's share of the incentive money.

Where, in general does all the money go?  It sure isn't going into the classroom or to the folks actually doing the teaching.

Here are a few links that may help you out a bit:

Answer 5

In my opinion, merit pay for teachers is a bad idea. How would you measure a teacher's performance? There are just too many factors outside the control of a teacher that makes merit pay unfair:

Home life. There's a direct correlation between the quality of the home and academic (and social) success in the classroom. A teacher cannot control abuse at home, drugs, absent parents, lack of sleep, constant moving, frequent absences and tardiness, etc that directly affect a child's performance. The academic success of a student is a three person team: student, parent(s), and the teacher. Merit pay only holds 1/3 of the team accountable. What about the other 2/3?

Previous education. For instance, if you have a poor performing student in sixth grade, because of previous education (or lack thereof), how can you hold his current teacher accountable? You would penalize a sixth grade teacher for what the child did in kindergarten, first grade, second grade, third grade, fourth grade, and fifth grade. It's not the current teacher's fault that student is behind yet he/she will still most likely perform poorly on standardized tests. Classrooms are not like a business workplace. You can't fire poor performing students like you can a poor worker to improve productivity. A teacher can't fire students' poor performing parents either.

Merit pay will decrease teacher collaboration and increase "teaching to the test". Perhaps the greatest way a teacher can improve is through collaboration with other often more experienced teachers. If merit pay would most likely mean comparisons between teachers, then why should I share my best practices with other teachers? That would be like the Boston Red Sox sharing their best coaching methods with the New York Yankees. I wouldn't be surprised to find teachers sabotaging other teachers and/or "cherry picking' the best students or his/her class for flocking to only high achieving schools (although this already happens).

Unfortunately, I think merit pay would probably increase standardized test scores because teachers would be forced to teach to the test instead of nurturing problem solving students that are creative, life long learners that enjoy school. They'll be great test takers and could regurgitate facts but not be able to think for themselves.

If you consider "student learning" high standardized test scores, then yes merit pay will probably increase "student learning". If you consider "student learning" the creation of problem solvers, high level thinkers, and creative students, then no it will do the opposite.

Answer 6

Well, it depends. I teach in South Korea, at the moment, and most of my students learn very little in my classes. I feel guilty, but also powerless. The main problem is that the administration shoots me down at every turn. For example, I am not allowed to give bad grades or write any negative comments on the report cards. Also, I am not permitted to provide after-school tutoring, call the parents or take away a cheater's test. The only way merit-based pay would work is if the teachers were allowed to implement their own rules and methods.

Answer 7

If you consider the idea for other professions, it becomes apparent how ludicrous the idea is.

Dentists only get paid if their clients do not have cavities.

Doctors only get paid if their clients remain healthy.

Police only get paid if there is no crime.

Why is it that teachers have to prove their worth at every turn, when there is much more to learning than whether or not they can create a good lesson plan.  Further, with our current economy, taxpayers are not interested in paying their teachers more.  In states where merit pay has been tried, the cost of education has drastically increased and the outcomes haven't been much different from a system where merit pay is not used.

I think our culture is to blame, as much as any other factor, in our educational standards.  We do not value education, as much as we say that we do.  Merit pay, standardized tests, standardized curriculum, and all the other ideas that have been tried, will never be the cure until everyone (parents, students, educators, politicians, all taxpayers) see the value of a good education.

Answer 8

it depends on what it is based on. is it based on how many students pass into the next grade? then no. Is it based on standardized tests, especially in a classroom of non-natives? Then no. If it is based on the teachers keeping records and administration checking those records and making their own baseline scores, then okay. But adminitration already has enough to do without worrying about that.  it cannot be based on something standardized, because underpriveledged students will not score well and it cannot be based on teacher observation only, since there are many unhonest people out there.

Also, what students will we be looking at? i finished my year with about 5 kids that started the year with me. I had one students transfer in in April, but he was withdrawn from his last school in September. That is 7-8 months with NO school. He is now being retained and scored 0's on his tests. Should that count against me? Should it affect my pay? I don't think it should, but it brought down my year end scores and if I transfer to another school, they will only see the low score.