Should Teachers Be Paid For Performance? Is It In The Interests Of Better Education?
Some school boards are looking to introduce pay for performance bonus systems for teachers, while others have already done so. On the surface of it, it makes some common sense that better teachers should receive compensation for being better teachers, but in fact, it's a much more complex issue than it might seem to be on the surface.
There are a lot of practical issues about how to administer these systems in a fair, objective way, but there's also another central issue which has to do with whether paying "better teachers" more will actually improve the school system. There's research that suggests it doesn't work, and I've explained one of the reasons why pay for performance doesn't address the causes of school problems.
Still it's important to understand the arguments on both sides, so below are collected some of the better articles, research studies, and opinion pieces on this important topic.
One note: As you read these remember that often the writers and researchers can have biases from the start. For example, it's not surprising that the NEA, or other teachers' unions are against pay for performance for teachers, since unions never support such schemes regardless of industry. Similarly, there are political biases, Democrat vs Republican, Left vs. Right and so on. It's good to keep that in mind because even research can be contaminated by bias, even unintentionally.
Top : Pay For Performance For Teachers : Page 3 :
School districts are looking at, or have started implementing a pay for performance system for teachers, where they are trying to reward "better teachers". It's a very hard system to make work, so we're going to explore the good, bad and ugly of merit pay for teachers through articles, research and
Research, Opinions, Articles On Pay For Performance For Teachers: Pay For Performance For Teachers
Pros and cons of merit pay for teachers: A point-counterpoint look at the issue. - by Lewis Solmon and Michael PodgurskyNicely set out pro's and con's of paying teachers according to some performance metrics rather than seniority or academic qualifications. (Views So Far 263 )
Research Summary: Teacher performance, compensation and measurement - by Margaret Weigel
Summary of and links to a number of research studies that look at a) how to measure teacher performance, and b) whether teacher compensation should be tied to performance. new (Views So Far 114 )
Research: What Do We Know About Teacher Pay For Performance - by Umi Jensen et al
Academic paper on pay for performance for teachers, why it's become an issue, what we know about best practices. Tons of research citations. (Views So Far 306 )
Teacher Excellence Initiative: Rewarding Teachers For Excellence Program - by Dallas ISD
Read how a Dallas school division is implementing the Teacher Excellence Initiative to reward performance rather than seniority. (Views So Far 212 )
Teacher Pay For Performance: Experimental Evidence from the Project on Incentives - by Rand Corporation
Research from the Rand Corporation evaluating teacher pay for performance for Nashville teachers: Conclusion? It doesn't work. (Views So Far 339 )
Teacher performance pay alone does not raise student test scores - by Vanderbilt University
Great page that summarizes the research on pay for performance for teachers from Vanderbilt. Kind of summarizes things for those who don't have time to read the actual research reports. Excerpt: "We tested the most basic and foundational question related to performance incentives -- Does bonus pay alone improve student outcomes? - and we found that it does not," Matthew Springer, executive director of the National Center on Performance Incentives, said. "These findings should raise the level of the debate to test more nuanced solutions, many of which are being implemented now across the country, to reform teacher compensation and improve student achievement." (Views So Far 317 )
Now Available in 
