Merit pay for teachers is a controversial pay system based on performance rather than tenure. It can reward good teachers and encourage professional growth, but evaluating teacher performance is difficult. Master teacher programs may be a better way to identify talented teachers. When applied well, merit pay can be beneficial, but poorly applied it can lead to cronyism. Regardless, teachers should be earning more for their work.
Merit pay for teachers is a pay scale for people in the teaching profession that is based on performance, rather than tenure. Many people are proponents of this type of pay system, arguing that it rewards good teachers for skilled work while encouraging others to develop more professional skills. Organizations such as the American Federation of Teachers have raised concerns about how such pay plans are administered, however, suggesting that teacher performance is a difficult thing to evaluate and this type of pay plan may not be the best way to improve standards general education.
When a school district uses a merit-based compensation plan, it typically creates a system to evaluate teacher performance and regularly reviews teachers in the district to see how they are doing. A teacher who regularly performs above the standard may be offered a higher wage for her work, as can teachers pursuing professional growth, while other teachers are kept at the standard of regular pay. Depending on how the system is applied, it may allow teachers to progress through the various pay grades more quickly or it may place teachers on different pay levels.
The main problem with merit pay for teachers is the question of how to evaluate teacher performance. Most merit systems look at performance in the classroom, but it can be difficult to judge this fairly. Using the test as a yardstick for pay can be dangerous, because many factors go into how a student performs on a standardized test, including parental involvement, student access to educational materials that can be hampered by limited budgets and learning style and test-taking ability.
Merit compensation programs may also look at lesson plans, student behavior in the classroom, student success after they leave the classroom, and evaluations from other teachers. Most critics argue that the best way to evaluate teacher performance is outside the district, with several states in America establishing “master teacher” programs to identify particularly talented teachers and reward them for their work. Master teachers also work with other teachers in their districts, discussing teaching techniques, classroom strategy, and so on.
When applied well, merit pay can reward talented and innovative teachers who encourage children to think in new ways, broadening their experiences and knowledge base. When poorly applied, however, it can border on cronyism, with district favorites receiving pay raises while teachers struggling with a variety of challenges go uncredited for their hard work. There’s one thing supporters and naysayers can agree on, though: Teachers should be earning more across the board for the work they do.
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