Thread: Federal Bonus Money for Teachers

I have no problem with merit pay, infact AZ has merit pay bonuses already. I have a problem with using the tests to do it.

In AZ every school has to submit a plan with goals to be met. part of that plan has to be linked to the tests, but the rest of it can be linked to other more realistic indicators of student learning.

No I do not plan on seeing any of that money. I am in AZ we are already a red state and I live north of I40. being North of I40 means we are forgotten about most of the time. I wonder, the money went to teachers in major metropolitan areas, are schools in rural Ohio not making the increases, or are there more voters in the cities? Isn't Ohio a major campaign state? I'm with NEA on this one; strange timing.

Texas used to have a three tier merit pay system. The problem was that there was only so much money in the budget. Teachers who deserved merit pay didn't always receive it, so there was a lot of competition among teachers. People at my school didn't share lesson plans or other creative ideas because they wanted to stand out. The merit pay system basically destroyed our team spirit and grade level team cohesiveness.

I was rated on the 2nd tier and was receiving something like $1,500 extra per year. The state merit pay system was discontinued before I could reach "master level."

Merit pay was not linked to performance on standardized tests.

I know there are places in AZ that are like this, and a lot of the money does not make it to teachers. I don't know how it happened but this district handles the money really well.

Originally Posted by Mark

I know there are places in AZ that are like this, and a lot of the money does not make it to teachers. I don't know how it happened but this district handles the money really well.

In general, I approve of the idea of merit pay provided:

1) There is actually enough money to pay all deserving teachers. Districts should not have to pick and choose which of the dserving teachers they pay. Either all deserving teachers should be paid or nobody should be paid. To do anything else is disruptive of faculty morale.

2) Merit pay should be linked to a variety of standards.

For example - with regards to the schools in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus and Toledo, I can assure you that there will be teachers who will receive no merit pay. Why?

2/3rds of the schools in Cleveland failed to meet AYP - annual yearly progress. 53% of all the school districts in the greater Cincinnati area failed to meet goals in reading and math. Throughout the entire state 24.3% of all schools (3,838 schools) failed to meet AYP.

Across the nation, 23,000 schools fully 1/4th of all public schools in the United States failed to meet AYP. According to current projections by ESEA, by the year 2014, the year in which all students are required to be proficient in reading, math, and science—between three quarters and 99 percent of all schools will fail to meet AYP.

Who are least likely to receive these bonuses? Teachers in inner-city or rural low income areas.

My BIL, who is not a teacher, recently had his performance review at work and received a raise for his performance. He asked my wife (who is a teacher) about her raise. My BIL asked a few more questions such as: 1. Does everyone get the same raise? Yes. 2. What happens if you deserve more? Nothing. 3. What incentive does anyone have to improve? None

This sequence of questions illustrates my belief that merit pay is desireable. Often the question is raised as to how to fairly determine who deserves more. I find it odd that in private industry they can figure this out, based upon your evaluations but our administrators cannot. This is even more odd when one considers that as educators it is our job to evaluate each and every day. oNe would think we and our principals would be very good at doing this.

Many will bring up the "bad administrator" argument as a reason against merit pay. All of my non-teaching friends have the same concern (and sometimes reality) of their boss being vindictive and incompetent. Yet they still manage to have a merit based system.

So whille I understand the hesitation by some to embrace a merit based system, I do not hesitate myself. I can accept the limitations in a merit based system as I feel those limitations are less than the system currently in place. I would also embrace a hybrid version where longevity of service does provide a financial incentive as well as a merit based system.

When AZ was first discussing the performance pay (we don't call it Merit Pay), the Unions had an absolute fit. I don't really remember why, I was not even considering education at the time, but it went along the lines of "it is not fair to everyone". Well duh!