Merit Pay for Teachers

In many professions, especially in business related fields, your pay is directly correlated with your professional performance. Salesman earn more when they increase their sales, lawyers become partners when they have consistent success, etc. This breeds competition, creativity, and pride in one’s work as individuals strive to increase the size of their paycheck. This same concept should also be applicable to teaching. Why, then, aren’t teachers paid according to their performance?

This point is raised by President Obama in a recent speech and the resulting media coverage. In this speech Obama argued that merit pay for educators should be implemented. I do believe that good teachers (those that find success in substantially raising student achievement) should be rewarded for their efforts and this is certainly a way to do it. I also believe that bad teachers should no longer teach. If they were getting paid less this would be an incentive for bad teachers to either improve their craft or leave the profession. I believe this would also improve the image and prestige of being a teacher. Too many times I have heard that teaching just doesn’t pay enough. If merit pay was implemented one could then earn a wage that was competitive to other professions, if they were effective in the classroom. I also believe that this would increase the overall quality of teachers since there would be more incentive to be an effective instructor.

Of course, though, I have some concerns. Specifically in Baltimore, would or how would the effectiveness of the school as a whole factor into an individual teacher’s merit pay? For example, a teacher could go to a well-functioning school with competent co-workers and administrators and find that they are extremely effective in increasing student achievement. That same teacher could also be employed in a school where factors outside of their classroom (school climate, poor administration, student attendance, ineffective staff, etc) are so prevalent that they greatly affect their effectiveness in a largely negative manner. Would this same teacher be paid differently in each situation? I imagine so since their effectiveness would be different. Is this fair for people in “bad” schools? Would these schools turn around once merit pay was implemented? Should principles also receive merit pay when their school is effective? How would “teacher effectiveness” be measured? Who would measure “teacher effectiveness”?

Obviously a whole host of issues arises when debating merit pay for teachers. A system-wide reform would no doubt have to occur for this to be effective and not bread corruption. None-the-less, it is certainly an enticing idea.