Teacher Merit Pay Essay example

It is essential to encourage school districts to collaborate with teachers and their unions when developing or implementing pay for performance programs. This can be achieved by incorporating these pay systems into sustainable human resource management strategies to improve teacher effectiveness. Compensating teachers via performance based system should be tied to the performance of the preK-12 students and not on the age, seniority or degree of the teacher. Another key aspect is to strengthen professional development of the preK-12 teachers through mentoring opportunities and evaluation of teachers. This will ensure that more highly qualified teachers are hired and retained at the various prek-12 school in U.S. The state laws that do not align educator performance based on student outcomes and compensation policies should be

One of the main issues with merit pay for teachers is found in the manner in which it is measured. Most of the new performances pay laws and union contracts measure “effectiveness,” at least in part, by looking at the students’ test scores from one year to the next. One test score cannot paint a full picture of a student's accomplishment. Teachers unions have historically opposed merit pay, arguing that test scores are not an accurate measure of student achievement (Turner, 2010, para 15). Most teachers will report that a test will only show part of the picture. Standardized tests do not reflect life lessons, effective citizen traits, or character building traits that were taught that year. All of these traits thrive in an effective teacher’s curriculum.

Merit pay is a short-term, pay-for-performance plan, with a typical life span of three to four years, in which employers provide rewards, usually in terms of a raise for past performance, for employees who perform their jobs effectively, which will lead to higher performing employees which will in turn lead to a better work environment and higher overall productivity. The concept of merit pay is most often mentioned in the context of educational and/or government civil service reform. With a merit-based pay system, the employer pays, with the idea that the employer will reward more productive employees with merit increases. This concept came about in an attempt to sustain high performance levels in the workplace linking merit increases, or increases in base pay, to employee performance ratings, which are taken at the end of a performance year, usually by a direct supervisor. Due to the ever increasing changes of supply and demand in business, in order to remain feasible, the merit pay system is expected to change consistently with the needs presented to the companies, whether it be foreign competition, consumer demands, producer limitations, etc.

The problem with Karmanos’ idea is that there’s no provision for merit pay in Michigan, lousy teachers and great teachers make the same as long as they have equal seniority and education. That’s a recipe for mediocrity in any industry. Teacher quality won’t significantly improve until pay is linked directly to performance.

Low comparative compensation In 1960, Senator John Kennedy remarked that we are a nation that pays its sanitation workers more than its teachers. He realized that without adequate compensation the country could not hope to provide enough well-trained teachers. "We are not attracting bring young men and women into teaching because the salaries which we pay our teachers are shamefully low" (Kennedy). Over 50 years later this situation has not substantially improved. It is not

Teacher compensation is one of many hot button issues in the race for K-12 public education reform in America. Google (2015), defines compensation as simply the money received by an employee from an employer as a salary or wages (Google). This definition is perhaps the simplest to understand, but fails to truly articulate the complex meaning of compensation. Most school divisions include salary, extra pay, benefits, and pension in their employee compensation package. Leonard Boswell (2015), former U.S. Representative, stated it best, when he said “The American Dream is one of success, home ownership, college education for one’s children, and have a secure job to provide these and other goals” (Brainy Quotes, n.d.). The American dream Boswell spoke of cannot be achieved through meager means, the question then is “Do the very people who help facilitate this dream for the country’s youth, deserve to achieve the dream as well?”

Merit pay is a term describing performance related pay. Its primary focus is used for helping teachers improve their performance by learning from each other. Merit Pay can take the form of a bonus or a permanent teacher salary increased. This motivates many teachers because they believe they are being evaluated more fairly than traditional evaluation. Merit pay is important to study because it’s a one of the most controversial issue in the field of education and it does have an effect on school finance in the future. We should be concerned about using merit pay in our school system because most professions offer bonuses and salary increases for their exemplary employees why should the education profession be any different? Shouldn’t we try and use incentives as we do with our students to motivate teachers to give their very best in educating our future leaders of tomorrow. Merit pay will recruit and retain some of the nation’s brightest mind. Many people who have the capability to teach our students refused to do so due to teacher pay but with merit pay many of these individuals may consider working in the education profession.

The first problem arises with the nature of merit. Merit can be defined differently for each individual, so how can the standard for reward be defined? Is a sense

Robert Lehnen and Guodong Liang talk about incentive pay programs and how productivity are affected by equivalent and bonus pay. According to Liang, incentive pay will be able to motivate teachers given that their hard work as a teacher pays off through increased pay. Lehnen also has a similar point when viewing different perspectives of teacher pay in Indiana. First, he talks about the 10-month work year that teachers have, saying it is a benefit and reason for lower salaries among teachers. Also, according to Lehnen (1994), the Indiana State Chamber of Commerce looks at test scores to consider performance among teachers and if scores are not high, spending within the districts will remain the same. Liang presents an incentive based pay, rather than Lehnen bringing other perspectives to the table concerning the necessity of raising pay compared to high test

Would it be a good idea if teachers get paid more than usual? For the most part

Most Americans believe that the United States public education system is largely based on the principles of work ethic and equal opportunity. We are taught that a strong work ethic is important in achieving good grades, and that these grades are crucial to attending elite universities and earning scholarships. The aforementioned features are key components of the dominant American ideology; a way of seeing that feels natural and inevitable. Although major institutions such as schools legitimize a societal reward system based on merit and hard work, also known as a meritocracy, the U.S. public education system evidently contains tremendous inequality, much of which is maintained and produced through the institution itself. Furthermore, structural factors such as cumulative advantage, which explains how those who are successful gain additional success, offer an explanation for the inequalities in the school system that manifest unexpectedly and cannot be solved by money. Through the legitimation of the dominant American ideology and the process of cumulative advantage, the U.S. public education system perpetuates social inequality within the classroom and provides additional power to those already born with better life chances.

After reading everything posted in the merit pay debate I think the merit-based pay system should not be used for teachers. I think that basing a teacher’s pay on how well their students test is unfair. The students may be learning in the class, but don’t take tests very well. Tests don’t always determine how much students have learned. Also some teachers may be put in a classroom with students who are at the bottom percent of the grade. Many of these students may have learning problems or English may be their second language, and a teacher should not be penalized for stepping up to teach this type of class. Also teachers that are teaching in urban areas may have a harder time getting their students to do well on tests because these students

Inasmuch as implementing a merit pay system is not illegal, it can cause legal concerns. As stated by Pullin (2013), the legal concerns will arise due to how a merit pay system has been established and the rubric to determine who is eligible for the reward. For example, if a teacher perceives a school leader does not like them, the controversy will be the ratings are not accurate on their observation. If the ratings are not accurate, it will result in the teacher not receiving their merit pay bonus. In my district, the teacher rating system is based on 80% teacher practice. As the school leader, I am required to observe their delivery of instruction, data analysis, differentiation, curriculum alignment, classroom climate, and professional responsibilities. According to the observation tool, one or two words will make the difference if the rating is Proficient 1, 2, or 3.

Andrew G. Biggs and Jason Richwine states that average public school teachers have paid too much than the private sector including the fringe benefits. They mentioned it was an inefficient fee for taxpayers. And Lisa Snell point out the fact that in the elementary and secondary school teacher increased a lot than before. And it creates a problem that too many teachers work because of the salaries. She insists that the governors need to focus on pay for high-quality teachers instead of the number. However, C. Kent Mcguire does not have the same opinion as them and think teachers are not overpaid because it could maintain the high-quality teachers. People could not use the money concept to value the knowledge and skills.

Going back to the tenure and teacher union issues, I agree that everyone has the right to unionize in order to protect their self-interests, but the idea surrounding tenure is something that needs to be re-evaluated, and the teacher’s union needs to jump on board in order to get the education system moving in the right direction. The writers hint at a way in which tenure can be changed, and that is by offering rewards for high student grades instead of the current rule of once tenure is reached, a teacher can keep their position regardless of their efforts in the classroom. The way the movie presents this alternative method is by showing a challenge between the teachers of the school to earn the highest student grades on the state test; winner earning a bonus of $5,700. This type of evaluation based on student grades can also be taken to the opposite end of the spectrum, and teachers who have unacceptable student scores should be evaluated on their teaching methods, and if seen