The Merits of Merit Pay: Ten Tips on Pay-for-Performance Reform
How to link teacher compensation to teacher accomplishment -- and a look at a school that makes it work.
by Laura McClure
Merit pay can sometimes seem like the third rail of educational policy: It's politically dangerous, potentially explosive, and liable to burn anyone who touches it. But now, this powerful controversy is proving to be hard to ignore as salary bonuses and peer review resurface as hot reform topics in 2008.
Pay Points
Below are ten recommendations by principals and other educators on how to implement reform and avoid catching fire:
- Make sure teachers are competing against mediocrity rather than one another. "A merit system has to incorporate a belief in teacher mentorship and teamwork," explains Hillary Miller, a former public elementary school teacher in Austin, Texas.
- Ensure that there's enough project funding in the bank to last at least five years, because a great merit-pay system a school can afford to offer for only a short time leads to disillusionment rather than hope.
- Make sure the size of the committee involved in creating the system and maintaining it is reasonable; too many voices delay decisions. (One teacher says five to seven people is a good rule of thumb.)
- "Teacher buy-in is a must," reports the Center for American Progress, in Washington, DC. In Chicago, for example, 75 percent of the teachers in a school must vote yes on a pay-structure change before the system can be instituted there.
- Judge a teacher's effectiveness using agreed-on evaluation tools, not based on how students perform on one test.
- Engage teachers in the development of an objective, rubrics-based evaluation tool. Try out the tool, and then refine and revise it.
- Offer at least 15-20 percent of base pay as a potential annual bonus. A teacher's added pay "has to be transformative," says Nínive Clements Calegari, coauthor of Teachers Have It Easy: The Big Sacrifices and Small Salaries of America's Teachers and a member of The George Lucas Educational Foundation's National Advisory Council. "You can't offer her $500, $2,000. You have to make it worth it."
- Start with volunteers for the alternate-pay program -- especially new teachers and those with five years of experience or less -- before extending the plan to veteran educators.
- Continually offer training to new and experienced peer reviewers.
- Listen to the advice administrators and peer reviewers provide, and solicit ways to improve the program.
Where It Works
Principal Yvonne Chan with students at the Vaughn Next Century Learning Center.
Photo courtesy of Yvonne Chan
One school demonstrating particular success with a merit-pay system like the one outlined above is the Vaughn Next Century Learning Center, in Pacoima, California.
Vaughn, a low-scoring public elementary school in its pre-charter school incarnation, implemented many of the reform tips and went on to win numerous accolades, among them a National Blue Ribbon Schools Award. The school won the award, which recognizes outstanding public and private schools nationwide, due in no small part to changes in its teacher-pay structure.
At Vaughn, Principal Yvonne Chan has instituted a system in which teachers can earn an additional $17,000 a year in performance-based bonuses. When you consider that the average elementary school teacher makes about $45,000 a year, it's obvious that that kind of money is a big incentive. "Leaving the district was a no-brainer," says Andy Carbonell of his switch to teaching sixth-grade math at Vaughn after eleven years as an elementary school teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
"My base pay at Vaughn is virtually identical to the district's," Carbonell points out. "But when you include all the possible bonuses and incentives, my salary is substantially larger."
Chan offers one last tip: "Principals and administrators must opt in first."
Laura McClure is a freelance writer and editor in San Francisco.
This article originally published on 1/15/2008
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Comments & Responses
Remove all unions especially teachers
Remove all teachers unions and Instead of union dues set inplace a system that requires 1.5% of teachers wage to be paid to the school district they are in to supplement the merit pay increases. The two groups that most fear the merit pay or right to work laws are the unions which we don't need and the teachers who we need even less than the unions.
Unions are 75 years past their effective timeline abolish unions in america. Look what they have done to the auto industry. NOT A PRETTY PICTURE.
the role of unions in contemporary America
I am always interested in comments like the one from JTB. In one short statement, JTB felt the need to soundly criticize both unions (in general) and teachers. So, JTB, why do you feel this way? More important, what real data and facts do you have, that support your opinions? I have worked for more than 30 years in organizational improvement. Several of those years were working on site-based decision-making committees in public schools. Fifteen years in labor-management relations, where I handled hundreds of grievances, arbitrations, and contract negotiations.
We must remember why unions existed originally, and also think about the role of unions today. The basic concept is as it always was - Collective Bargaining. The idea (pretty much universally agreed to be true) that the interests of many, are heard more effectively, than the interest of one. What kinds of things do unions negotiate? Pay is just one issue, but not the only issue. Of great concern to both labor and management are the issues of working conditions - performance appraisal, promotion, etc. Also, it is important to note that one of the largest unionized groups in America can not bargain for pay, and can not strike. These are public employees.
The media occasionally feature people who claim that unions are the reason for problems in America's auto industry. But when we look at the facts (numerous comparative studies in the auto industry, as well as Department of Labor data), the total compensation per hour for union auto workers is not a lot more per hour than the non-union auto workers. Moreover, as one report recently noted, no one ever forced an auto company (or a school system) to sign a collective bargaining agreement. At the time, both parties felt the agreement was viable and represented a fair and reasonable compromise.
Are unions needed today? Yes, though perhaps they need a much more modern point of view. Union leaders and members need to be part of the solution for sustaining the organizations where they work. Whether we talk about schools or auto makers, unions and their members are a key component of long-term success. Management (in schools or auto companies)likewise need to consider the critical issues of concern to the bargaining unit. Pay, job security, health insurance, pension stability, career development - all should be of almost equal importance to both sides.
Thanks, and have a great day.
You said "The two groups
You said "The two groups that most fear the merit pay or right to work laws are the unions which we don't need and the teachers who we need even less than the unions." According to this sentence your opinion is we don't need teachers. I am quite interested to find out what your suggestion is for how people in this country should learn if we don't need teachers?
What teachers get paid
I asked my teacher Andy Cabonell an he said," I make more money @ Vaughn than in the Los Angeles Unified District because teachers have a chance 2 get a $17,000 bouns." He also says," In the Los Angeles Unified District I made around 45,000
and when I add up the bouns I make a lot more."
Teacher perspectives on performance pay
Most of the debate about how performance-pay might be designed to improve teaching and learning has taken place without deeply engaging teachers in the discussion.
One notable exception: the TeacherSolutions report by members of the Teacher Leaders Network published last spring. The report's four pillars for incentive pay offer a nuanced approach based on the perspectives of a group of outstanding teachers who know how school really works and where incentives for change would have the greatest impact. Here's a link to the report: http://snipurl.com/tsreport
Merit Pay
As a school board member, I was going to forward this article to my Board as an "fyi", until I realized that merit pay was coming from a charter school. Since the notion of charter schools is anathema in our neck of the woods, I won't even waste my time forwarding the post. I would, however, like to comment on the "comments". I come from a community where 70% of the Black families are low income. So where do those students get "stacked"? Who is to teach them, and what should the expectations be? Based on the recent Supreme Court ruling which in effect hastens the re-segregation of our schools, they will be "stacked" where they won't affect the "normal" children and their families.
For those of us in the business of wanting all children to have a chance at success, I contend that the real 800 pound beast in the room is the notion that the public schools are in-fact, already fullfilling their mission. And that current attempts to change the system must be fought vigorously. This writer believes that there is evidence suggesting that education for the masses was never intended to actually "educate", but to prepare people for the stratified positions that they were expected to take once leaving school. Any attempt whether genuine or disengenuous proporting to materially change this paradigm must be vigorously opposed. So, even if the rather benign notion of setting a reasonable pay for service and then giving financial incentative to those who excell at providing that service is proposed, it must be fought at every point because such a notion might actually help change the order of the society. And that, unfortunately apprears to be un-American.
If nothing else, these initiatives which generate only moderate success when major overhauls and improvements are needed may at some point lead a segment of our society to push for the dismantling of public education as we know it and replacing it with people and systems who will truly educate the public, not just the affluent.
Missing some major points!
I believe that some of us are missing some key issues here - we do not HAVE to teach to the test! We can still involve the students in problem solving and creative thinking skills! In fact, I feel it should be encouraged!!!!! Those students will still be ultimately prepared for those standards-based tests if we are providing them with novel lessons and fun learning activities; however, they will also gain background knowledge and content that "teaching to the test" cannot possibly give them.
In the article, merit pay does not necessarily mean: student does well on test, teacher gets check; it should mean (in a well-run system) that there are many balanced factors put into a formula and weighed, so that all are given equal opportunities at the "prize"!
Perhaps those of you who are so ready to throw in the towel at the idea of a world where pay for performance enters into the school system, shouldn't be teaching at all! In my experience it is you who are also the ones who ARE teaching to the test and are too tired to do anything else anymore!
Merit pay school disticts
I'm a student at Allegheny College conducting a study on merit pay. I've been having a lot of trouble trying to find information on individual school districts that offer merit pay. If you know of a public high school that has recently adopted a pay for performance/incentive system, could you please email the name of the district and location. Thanks for the help
Brandon
skarmagedon@netscape.net
MN Schools using performance incentives
Brandon, under a system called ATPPS (Alternative Teacher Performance Pay System), many MN public school districts now have systems in place. Off hand, you could take a look at St. Cloud, MN or Wayzata, MN. I'd search the web using ATPPS and MN or look at the state department of ed's website.
Merit pay
If done correctly, I think merit pay would be awesome. We all know veteran teachers who are not effective educators. Should they be earning $40,000 more than an effective teacher with less experience?
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