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Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Merit pay study: Teacher bonuses don't raise student test scores - USATODAY.com

Merit pay study: Teacher bonuses don't raise student test scores - USATODAY.com
Merit pay study: Teacher bonuses don't raise student test scores
Updated 2h 21m ago | Comments 7 | Recommend 5E-mail | Save | Print | Subscribe to stories like this
NASHVILLE — Offering middle-school math teachers bonuses up to $15,000 did not produce gains in student test scores, Vanderbilt University researchers reported Tuesday in what they said was the first scientifically rigorous test of merit pay.

The results (pdf) could amount to a cautionary flag about paying teachers for the performance of their students, a reform strategy the Obama administration and many states and school districts have favored despite lukewarm support or outright opposition from teachers' unions.

The U.S. Department of Education has put a great deal of effort into prodding school districts and states to try merit-pay systems as part of its Race to the Top competition, although teachers' unions have often objected on the grounds that they don't have fair and reliable ways to measure performance. In most school districts, teacher pay is based on