I’ve long been a supporter of researching merit pay. I think it could bring more professionalism to the teaching profession. We talk about extrinsic motivation, right? Why don’t we test it on ourselves? The board offered a flat dollar amount for the first year and a percentage raise the second. In other words, beginning teachers would benefit more the first year, experienced teachers the second. The stand of the National Education Association as well as our local is to reward teachers for their experience (not to use merit pay.) I can see that point of view. After all, these experienced teachers went through the first half of their teaching careers watching more experienced teachers get better raises. I understand that. But
I couldn’t help scanning down the list of teachers and looking at what they stood to gain. Some people on the list have been stagnate for years. Am I really worth $10,000 less than someone like that? Someone who never tries new things, doesn’t care about student learning, complains during every in-service because it’s information that teacher will never use, skips out early more days than not? I think the answer is no. If someone teaches more and better than someone else, then why can’t that teacher be paid more?
I know there would be potential problems. Countless articles (like this one) say it would be an "expensive failure." Who would be the judge of “merit”? This article states that teacher evaluations are inflated. If evaluations aren’t fair in themselves, then they aren’t fair tools to base merit pay. Test scores won’t work either. To be honest, I can’t think of a fair basis for the system, all I know is that the current system doesn’t seem too fair either.
What other profession are employees allowed to avoid change, become idle, play solitaire for an hour straight, show videos more days than not, come late and leave early? Every school has teachers like this. I think it’s a real shame and maybe merit pay could do something to change it. Perhaps we could learn something from the business world. We may be hearing more about this in the future. President Obama laid out a plan including merit pay this last spring.
I worked in another business for 23 years so the entire structure of how teachers are paid is a bit of a puzzle to me. I see the point in much of it - more money for more education, for example. I even understand the basic premise of the step raises. A certain amount of time on a job should lead to a raise. I base this on the premise that a long tenure usually occurs because a person is good at their job and continues to grow. Yes, the length of service was an issue but it was the value of the work that really brought about the raise, so it was in effect a merit system and theoretically you would keep getting more no matter how long you worked there. The only ceiling, in theory, is what the boss was willing to pay for your services. You worked hard and tried to improve so the boss would keep bumping you up. That is how it worked in my earlier career.
ReplyDeleteTeaching is a little different and I don't know that we should like it. We go in, as you said, hat in hand each year or two and beg for our raise. The powers that be usually throw us a (small) bone and we go back to our work. It is decided as a group and the good teachers get the same thing as the bad teachers. Aside from personal pride or a sense of professionalism, there doesn't seem to be an incentive to grow or improve because everyone gets the raise. I believe in merit pay because a good teacher who tries hard and works to grow and improve deserves more that a warm and fuzzy feeling in their tummy at the end of the day. That dedication, professionalism, and devotion to duty deserves something concrete and a merit raise would provide that. I would think it would even provide us with a chance to pull up the low end of our profession. The teachers that are simply putting in their time or who don't care may suddenly change their tune if the hard working teachers around them get raises and they don't. It might give them the kick in the butt they need to improve. If it doesn't and then perhaps they will become disgusted with the "unfair" nature of the raises and leave. In either case, the school and the educational experiance of our students would improve. I am all for merit raises.
I too would supportive of merit pay. All too often I am up at all hours of the night perfecting lessons, racking my brain, researching alternative ways to do things, cutting out patterns, correcting papers, etc..Things we are all expected to do. Do all of us do this? no. Should I pat myself on the back for doing extra work at home? Probably not. Should I be paid for more for taking the initiative to do it and going the extra mile? Maybe so! I think the teachers close to retirement would retire sooner if merit pay was used thus making more room for new blood and new ideas! Not to say all older teachers are paid too much or teach too little (there are younger teachers alike), I have just casually observed that many have lost their zest for teaching or have become tattered and worn politically. It would be hard to say if these teachers would be motivated by $ or not!
ReplyDeleteThis is a very controversial topic, especially because it almost pins the new teachers against the old. I am not sure that I really have a good idea on how to solve the problem myself. I agree that as a beginning teacher it is hard to see myself put in many hours to make my lessons meaningful, help find materials that will help the struggling students, and also make many manipulatives to create a more “hands on” approach in my classroom. However I also feel comfortable with our ladder system of knowing what my salary will be each year and that I can count on it. I feel that if we allow someone to come in an watch us teach and then give us a grade, and that grade in turn will affect our salary I feel that we will start touching on some other issues. What if a principal knew that a teacher was having financial trouble and they felt that because of this they might be able to help by inflating their salary a bit? Would that be fair to everyone? It is tricky and I don’t have the answers. Maybe instead of basing the whole salary on merit there could be a couple of merit awards where teachers could be recognized for excellence in their classroom.
ReplyDeleteGreta
This is one of those situations where it is not fair but it is the best we can do. It is unfortunate because I would love to get paid more for doing a good job. When it comes to merit pay I can't help but to think what would happen to the rest of the teaching community and the govenment employees. North Dakota state employees are on pay scales too (for the most part). I can't imagine the uproar that would ensue if we evaluated all of these employees and paid some more than others.
ReplyDeleteSo instead of that we do the next best thing, we reward education/training and experience. To be honest, moving on the pay scale is a major motivation for me being in this program.
The whole situations doesn't seem fair but I can't think of an alternative. I guess that doesn't necessarily mean that one doesn't exist though.