Saturday, April 2, 2011

Why merit pay for teachers doesn’t work

Valerie Strauss
"why merit pay for teachers doesn’t work"
Washington Post
March 30, 2011

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/ravitch_why_merit_pay_for_teachers_doesnt_work/2011/03/29/AFn5w9yB_blog.html?wprss=rss_educationTopic: Teacher Pay/Compensation

Another article about how merit pay for teachers is bad.

Key Points: She lists a few more references to back up her claims which are useful if you want to take up her side of the argument.
OK, it’s the same thing we have already talked about. I do agree that there is a lot to be gained by synergy or collaborative efforts but, aren’t there other awards and recognition that individuals receive and compete for? Grants, etc… Why are these things not under intellectual attack as well? If the idea is to enhance teams, why not restructure bonuses so that they are tied to a whole department at a school so say, if the test scores or whatever measure you want to use are good enough, everyone on the team gets a bonus. They keep saying “data shows” that this incentive stuff doesn’t work, but a nice bonus for a job well done sounds good to me personally, especially if it were awarded not only to me but my team. Is there anyone here who doesn’t want to be paid more and have a chance at a nice bonus? Why is that so bad and who loses? If you aren’t motivated by higher pay or bonuses…then why ask for it, expect it, or complain about low pay? Everyone should be happy right? Time to shift the paradigm of the crowd.
Relevance: Teacher compensation is an interesting topic in this community because so much of the mainstream philosophy is not profit or competition oriented. Yet, I have not sat in a teacher lounge yet where the teachers were satisfied with their pay and didn’t want more.

3 comments:

  1. The idea of team based rewards is intriguing, but the rewards would have to be substantial enough to warrant their pursuit. Paxton brought up a very interesting point a few weeks back about colleague competition and discontent. Basically his point was that the increases accrued in the current system of merit pay are so small that they are not worth putting off your colleagues in order to pursue them.

    Is it worth annoying people who you want as political allies for an extra $50-$100 a month? Not really. An extra $1000? Absolutely.

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  2. But how do we "raise the status"? It appears to be a deep and complicated issue that poses much more difficult questions than ones of teacher compensation. The status of the teacher is essentially one of societal priorities augmented by our general lack of respect for authority.

    Perhaps this is the proverbial problem of "damn kids these days!" etc.

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  3. I think with anything to raise awareness it starts small and it grows. It can start with students, parents, society and teachers and the movement has to make NOISE. And the theme has to change from the bad teachers to the current system and how we look at teachers. First the paradigm shifts and then the protesting begins!

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