Against Merit Pay for Teachers

1957 Words4 Pages

I. Introduction
The dispute surrounding merit pay for teachers has existed for decades in many countries across the globe. The debate has been particularly heated in the United States. Since the 1920s, public schools began awarding pay mostly according to title, and seniority rather than merit. Numerous attempts have been made to introduce merit pay systems throughout this period, but it never gained widespread popularity on a national level. Now, however, political leaders such as Barack Obama have supported merit pay for teachers. This has reinvigorated the debate, with many groups falling on either side. The National Education Association, for example, has opposed merit pay, while the United Federation of Teachers supports the idea. The modern day merit pay, or pay-for performance programs offers teacher monetary bonuses for student achievement on yearly standardized test scores. Merit pay conflicts with the way we are to teach in today’s schools, and cannot be fully effective. This form of motivation, for teachers, will be impossible to be evenhanded, and the broad term of “merit” does little for the long term success of the students. No “good” teacher is in it for the money, anyway. This newly rediscovered answer, to public education, could set back and delay the entire system.
II. Article Summary
III. Multiple Discipline Analysis
As the public gains more concern for the quality of education, the more interest the public has in teacher accountability and performance. A recent poll stated that there is much interest by the public in linking student performance to teacher accountability (Wright, 2003). According to the guidelines of merit pay, the teacher has the sole responsibility of determining if a child is successfully ed...

... middle of paper ...

...(2010). Public opinion on merit pay: Self interest vs. symbolic politics. program on education policy and governance working papers series. Program on Education Policy and Governance, 1,17.
Hulleman, C. S., & Barron, K. E. (2010). Performance pay and teacher motivation: Separating myth from reality. Phi Delta Kappan, 91(8), 27-31.
Moore-Johnson, S., & Papay, J. P. (2010). Expecting too much of performance pay. School Administrator, 67(3), 22-27.
Moore-Johnson, S., & Papay, J. P. (2010). Merit pay for a new generation. Educational Leadership, 67(8), 47-52.
Protheroe, N. (2011). Performance pay for teacher. Principal, 90(4), 28-34.
Ramirez, A. (2011). Merit pay misfire. Educational Leadership, 68(4), 55-58.
Wright, R. E. (2003). Difficulties in marketing the concept of merit pay for primary and secondary teachers. Research for Educational Reform, 8(3),8.38-45.

Show More
Related

  • Summary Of Benjamin Barber's 'America Skips School'

    740 Words  | 2 Pages

    The oversite committee then evaluates the success of their money allocation and incentivize the success of the public school’s education. “Americans do not appear ready to pay the price.” (Barber, p. 215) Money is the most powerful motivator, and if the success of school districts reaps the benefits of more financial resource, educators will fight to be the best. This new desire to be the best, is possible with the equalization of opportunity from the allocation of funds to the poorer schools. The race to the top would already be won by the larger, richer, and more powerful school districts without those foundational funds. “Because we believe in profits, we are consummate salespersons and efficacious entrepreneurs.” (217) Barber’s essay supports the idea of incentivized results. Not only would districts compete with other schools, but their standards would be raised year after year in consequence to the oversite of the

    Read More

  • Charlotte Danielson's Article 'Evaluations That Help Teachers'

    1636 Words  | 4 Pages

    In 2010, Charlotte Danielson wrote an article, “Evaluations That Help Teachers”, for the magazine The Effective Educator. The purpose of this article was to explain how a teacher evaluation system, such as her own Framework for Teaching, should and can actually foster teacher learning rather than just measure teacher competence, which is what most other teacher evaluation systems do. This topic is especially critical to decision-making school leaders. Many of the popular teacher evaluation systems fail to help schools link teacher performance with meaningful opportunities for the teachers to reflect on and learn from in order to grow professionally. With the increased attention on the need for more rigorous student standards, this then is an enormous opportunity missed. Students can only achieve such rigorous expectations if their teachers can effectively teach them, and research has shown that teachers who are evaluated by systems that hold them to accountability and provide them for continuous support and growth will actually teach more effectively.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis: America Skis School By Benjamin Barber

    887 Words  | 2 Pages

        Barber calls the reader 's attention to the low salary of teachers and how their wages need to rise. Although many people know about the salary issue for teachers, they often overlook

    Read More

  • Michael Simpson

    573 Words  | 2 Pages

    There were a few issues of fairness presented in Michael Simpson’s case that happens in in real world work places that prevents employees from working to their full potential or causing them to leave the work place all together. In this case study Michael Simpson is faced with the dilemma of whether or not he should leave Avery McNeil, the accounting at which he is currently working at. Simpson had interviewed with many consulting firms before graduating college, and had chosen Avery McNeil because it had the potential to allow him the most rapid advancement in his career. Within two years of working their he was promoted to manager and he received a great pay raise. However, a few days later Simpson came upon a sheet with pay grades of other

    Read More

  • The Shortcomings of Standardized Testing

    1649 Words  | 4 Pages

    Since the U.S. Congress passed the No Child Left Behind program, standardized testing has become the norm for American schools. Under this system, each child attending a school is required to take a standardized test at specific grade points to assess their level of comprehension. Parents, scholars and all stakeholders involved take part in constant discussions over its effectiveness in evaluating students’ comprehension, teachers’ competency and the effects of the test on the education system. Though these tests were put in place to create equality, experts note that they have created more inequality in the classroom. In efforts to explore this issue further, this essay reviews two articles on standardized testing. This essay reviews the sentiments of the authors and their insight into standardized examination. The articles provide sufficient evidence to demonstrate that standardized tests are not effective at measuring a teacher’s competency because they do not take into account the school environment and its effect on the students.

    Read More

  • Standardized Testing a Failure in Education

    1339 Words  | 3 Pages

    Politicians claim that Accountability is needed. Dylan Wiliam wrote that “The logic of accountability is deceptively simple”(110) He goes on to say that “students attending higher quality schools will (by definition) have higher achievement than those attending lower quality schools, so that the differences in quality of schools will result in systematic differences in achievement between schools”(110). Yes indeed accountability is needed. It is needed for those who pay for education (tax payers) and the people who are educated (the students). The institutions that regulate education should be held accountable for the policies they enact as well as the government that approved those actions. “Of the total variance in mathematics achievement of 15-year-olds in the United States in 2004 only 8% was attributable to the actual quality of the education provided by the school, the results in science are similar” (111). This is an indictment of the American school system, it points out that standardized testing is in fact inaccurate and unnecessary.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of 'What Teachers Make'

    1186 Words  | 3 Pages

    Some people believe merit pay creates competition and favoritism. They seem to think school systems will pay some teachers more than others and create a “battle” for money. In Merit Pay: Good for Teachers? By Gary Drevitch, one interviewee states, “I know it’s worked in some places, but I shudder at the idea of teachers being in competition with each other.” None of these problems will occur if school districts implement a successful, unbiased system. Another issue society presents when it comes to merit pay comprises of differentiating a “good” teacher from a “bad” teacher. School districts can easily evaluate a teacher’s ability to educate students by the work teachers put into helping students. Student’s reactions to a teacher’s class can also help evaluate teachers. More often than not, students will love a class where the teacher clearly demonstrates lessons, explain procedures, and adds elements of fun. On the other hand, students typically dislike classes where the teacher only comes in for a paycheck. This attitude is displayed by their lackadaisical teaching style. Other people argue that money should not be the reason why people go into teaching. Richard Barbieri, author of Merit Pay? argues that money is not an external motivator, but the substance of a teacher’s motivation. Financial incentives will cause employees to work harder

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Malcolm Gladwell's 'Most Likely To Succeed'

    1043 Words  | 3 Pages

    With the low expectations of teachers, students are limited in their ability to learn. As discussed before, it is difficult to predict how well a teacher will do at their job before they begin working. This creates doubt when hiring anyone, and employers may not know if who they are hiring is the right choice. If teachers are judged by not only the basic requirements met, but also their interpersonal skills and how well they are able to teach in a positive manner, there will hopefully be less mediocre teachers hired. In the same way, both an advanced teacher and an average teacher are paid the same wages, which creates a flaw in education. Even more, there should not be average teachers in the workforce if all teachers are paid the same. Though this harms the advanced teachers, who deserve more than they earn, it also harms the students, as they are taught at a lower level by the inadequate teachers. Gladwell mentions these flaws in his article, but he also explains the traits good teachers should have, which brings a strive forward in this issue. Because of this, it is clear America must be more selective and strict when hiring

    Read More

  • Salary Schedules for Public School Teachers: Pros and Cons

    1618 Words  | 4 Pages

    Besharov, Douglas. "Teachers Performance: A Review ." Journal of Policy Analyis and Management (2006): 1-41.

    Read More

  • Performance-based Compensation - Pay for Performance

    2553 Words  | 6 Pages

    Hays, Scott. "Pros & Cons of Pay for Performance." Workforce 78, Number 2 (February 1997): 68-72

    Read More

  • Teacher Effectiveness Evaluations

    1483 Words  | 3 Pages

    The state’s new evaluation system was in response to administrators who produced, “superficial and capricious teacher evaluation systems that often don't even directly address the quality of instruction, much less measure students' learning” (Toch, 2008). Too often, the “good-ol-boy” attitude would insure mediocre educators would remain employed. Realizing this was often more the rule then the exception, the governor created educational mandates to focus, “on supporting and training effective teachers to drive student achievement” (Marzano Center, 2013). Initially, they expected the school districts and the teachers would have issues and experience growing pains, but in the end the goal was, “to improve teacher performance, year by year, with a corresponding rise in student achievement” (Marzano Center, 2013).

    Read More

  • What Is Merit Pay On Employees

    724 Words  | 2 Pages

    Merit pay is a vehicle for employers recognizing individual performance and motivating employees to reach higher achievement. Competition is a natural human instinct and healthy competition compels employees to perform at their highest level. Employees must have clear, attainable goals and supervisors must provide continuous feedback, publicly praising employees to motivate performance. Additionally, employers that recognize and reward individuals for their exceptional performance in tangible ways, ultimately increase employee’s self-esteem and encourage them to maintain a high level of commitment to the organization. Employees are more apt to stay with a company when they feel that their hard work is appreciated and compensated. When employees are highly driven, it decreases absenteeism, tardiness, and results in a positive work attitude. In fact, employers use merit pay not only to retain highly motivated performance individuals, but also to attract new employees who are motivated by monetary rewards cultivating a productive workforce. Personally, I think merit pay plans are a great incentive if they are implemented fairly, equitable, and based on individual performance. Furthermore, I feel nothing demoralizes a high performing employee faster than knowing that all employees who contribute less to performance will receive the exact pay increase. If merit pay programs are instituted, they must ensure that

    Read More

  • What Makes an Effective Teacher?

    1294 Words  | 3 Pages

    Everyone knows that when it comes to making a difference in a child’s academic and life achievements, their teachers play a large role. A teacher’s ability to relate to their students, and teach them to achieve both socially and academically contributes to how effective they are. What does it mean to be an effective teacher? Overall there seems to be an emphasis on teacher effectiveness related to how well their students are performing on standardized testing. As teachers we know there is more to being an effective teacher then just teaching our students based on tests. This paper will identify different definitions of an effective teacher along with how to assess teachers on being effective.

    Read More

  • Pay Salaries for Teachers Should Be Increased

    1668 Words  | 4 Pages

    Meyer, Warren. "The Teacher Salary Myth - Are Teachers Underpaid?." Forbes. N.p., 22 Dec. 2011. Web. 5 Apr. 2014. .

    Read More

  • Is Money Really an Effective Motivator?

    1057 Words  | 3 Pages

    In any organization, sometimes, monetary schemes doesnot get people involve to pursue work in a certain way, rather it demoralize and threatens the self-esteem of employees. According to Meyer (1975), “the basis for most of the problems with merit pay plans is that most people think their own performance is above average”. The amount may ...

    Read More

More about Against Merit Pay for Teachers

Open Document