Merit Pay Discussion Summary

Posted by: mrstaahs on: March 2, 2009

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Merit Pay Blogical Discussion Summary
Over the past week, we’ve talked as a group about whether merit pay for teachers is a valid idea. 

The major argument made for merit based pay was:
1) Many teachers are just “punching the clock” waiting to be finished, and merit pay may motivate them to better their teaching.
Some of the arguments against merit based pay were:
1) A lot of student performance is out of teachers’ control and often more dependent on students’ desire to learn
2) Teachers don’t enter the field “for the money.”  They usually have a different motivation (like positively impacting students’ lives)
3) Teachers often can’t control the students they are given to teach.  Some teachers teach low-level students all day and these students are much less likely to perform well and be motivated to succeed.  Until we can pick our students, we shouldn’t be judged on how well they do.
4) Different districts have different types of students, some of whom have great resources and families that value education and others that don’t.  Again, working in districts like these would probably offer almost entirely different experiences and therefore teachers in each environment shouldn’t be judged along the same guidelines.
5) Because we all teach in different situations and with different supports, we cannot all be judged on the same criteria.

Alternatives for teacher pay given were:
1) Offer all teachers equal (higher) pay.  This would attract the best candidates to the profession.
2) Offer teachers extra pay for taking on extra duties or offering to teach extra or more challenging classes

Other interesting thoughts were:
1) To improve teacher performance, eliminate the concept of tenure so that teachers no longer feel protected enough that they become apathetic about doing their job.
2) Why not pay the STUDENTS for their performance:) That might get their attention and spark some motivation!
3) Evaluations of merit would need to be based not only on tests (quantitative analysis), but on evaluations, observations, feedback, and other qualitative methods. 

Overall, the general consensus is that we as teachers enter into the field for many reasons – none of which involve money.   We are trying to positively impact the lives of the next generation, and although we’re all faced with different circumstances and student populations, we all have these same goals 🙂