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Contact this writerBeing a public school teacher that supports merit pay, I am not always viewed in a positive light. However, I feel that there are certain standards good teachers should adhere to and strive for. Teachers that are able to do so and excel, especially rising above the norm, should be recognized and rewarded.
There are several reasons I believe a teacher who rises above the norm should be rewarded with merit pay. Doing better than the norm means continued learning. This requires financial and time commitments. A teacher who rises above the norm has made a commitment to excellence, which requires extra time and effort. Such a teacher should be rewarded. Awards and recognition are sometimes given, but there should be some monetary reward as well.
Giving merit pay means there has to be some measurement standard. This means assessment of a teacher's abilities. The good teacher who is striving to do their best will not be concerned about such assessment. In fact, most who are trying to achieve to the best of their ability welcome assessment as a means to determine how they are doing.
I do recognize that not all assessments are fair, and some aspects of excellence in teaching may not be able to be assessed. However, it would be a rare occurrence that a teacher would only excel in those particular areas.
Another reason I support merit pay is that it may help weed out teachers who are only teaching because the money is relatively good and they have more time off than in other jobs. If raises are not given across the board, but must be earned, then the teachers who don't strive for excellence may move on to a career that is more fitting to them, since they won't receive as many pay increases. This will result in only the best teachers remaining.
In my career I have seen many teachers who do the very minimum required, refuse to further their education or attend any continuing education workshops. These teachers don't usually have the student's best interest at heart. They have a job, not a career. Their focus is on earning their salary, not in furthering the good of society by helping their students become the best they can be.
I am not opposed to giving raises for years of service and cost of living increases. However, I believe those raises should be less than an incentive raise. Give all teachers the cost of living and services raises, but give a substantial additional raise for excellent performance.
Giving public school teachers merit pay might not be a popular idea, but it is one thing that will help improve the quality of public school education. Laws may require certain performance, but it will not insure the quality of that performance like merit pay will.
Top "Yes" articles on:
Should public school teachers get merit pay?-
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by Evelyn Guy
Being a public school teacher that supports merit pay, I am not always viewed in a positive light. However, I feel t...read more
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2 of 24
by Holle Abee
As a retired teacher, I have always supported merit pay. Teachers who perform well and go the extra mile to instruct ...read more
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No
by Taylor Divico
Merit pay is a joke that undermines the skills and overall function of most
teachers. There are so many educators in the public school system whose excellence in the classroom could never be contained by a score. Merit pay is yet another stigma resulting from standardized testing, so not only are we judging and categorizing students, but also the vast majority of professionals who have the best interest of the child in mind and who on a daily basis serve and strive to create an efficient and helpful environment for their pupils.
There are so many factors that effect the overall well-being of a child and grades are not the only or even most important one. Teachers, in our present society, have an all-encompassing job. They are counselors, behavior specialists, parents to some, liaisons, support systems and educators, playing multiple roles for the overall benefit of each child. To only award a teacher based on scores epitomizes the swift decline of the educational system in this country and the need to take blame away from the actual source of the problems. It would be more accurate to begin judging districts, funding or lack there of, and ultimately the government as a whole for the large classroom sizes, deficit of resources, and poor school environments, which lead to bad morale and the pointing of fingers. What is happening in our schools is the trickle-down effect of misplaced responsibility, and more often than not, teachers are being used as scapegoats. Merit pay segregates and does not vindicate the many valuable assets that most teachers bring to the classroom. Trying to distinguish good from bad in relation to test scores does not take into account the many skills and efforts that consistently go unnoticed.
Let us think about the depressed and disheveled child who comes to school each day upset with what happened in their home that day. They have a parent, perhaps who works three jobs and cannot afford to take off time to urge the student to complete homework, to hang around with the right people, or to study. Where does this child turn...in most cases to the teacher, the only other adult who can be a positive role model and get them back on track. Is the success going to show immediately...is it going to appear as a score? No, most likely,it will be indicated be a smile on the child's face one day, a change in attitude, new friends...hope, even. Some children come to school with many odds against them...negative influences that have been building since they were born...is it their fault...or their teacher's fault for not being able to overcome every adverse situation that has effected their schooling and grades throughout the years? Scores are not a black and white area. To the contrary...they are the result of many variables, making them a skewed and unfavorable way to judge a teacher's or a child's worth.
If this country wants better teachers, it needs to start with competitive salaries for teachers and more incentive programs. Merit pay does nothing to solve the issues of our schools and students. Most teachers work very hard, regardless of what the scores say and deserve better compensation. They are educating the future of this country, yet barely live above the poverty line. That's the real issue at hand. Merit pay is just another way to stigmatize teachers and take blame off the the system that really defines our students' problems. Delving into deeper inspection of what this country holds dear, one will find it ends and begins with the almighty dollar sign, and not the actual wellness of our student or teacher populations. Those are the facts.
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