Is Merit Pay For Teachers The Answer?

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When it comes to education, everyone has an opinion. But, does anyone truly have the perfect solution? One proposed solution bringing about debate in the last few years has been merit pay for teachers (Wright, 2003). As we know, teachers often receive the brunt of criticism from the public when it comes to the failure of education. But is merit pay the solution? Wright (2003) states that although there may be some validation to the idea of merit pay, there are also some serious concerns.

As more public gains 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 educated or not.

According to Protheroe (2011), much of the public is on board with the merit pay initiative. In response to the 2010 Phi Delta Kappa Gallop Poll, 71% of respondents expressed support for paying teachers on the basis of work, as opposed to relying totally on traditional pay schedules, while 73% indicated that a teacher's salary should be tied to student academic achievement (Protheroe, 2011). These statistics indicate that should the public have any say in the manner, merit pay may be a thing of the future.

Many agree that there is nothing that better defines a first-rate school than the quality and performance of its instructional staff (Drevitch, 2006). But, what is the true definition of a quality teacher performance? What is the definition of a successfully performing student? Before performance-based compensation can be i...

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.... 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.

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