Bonuses Seem Sensible, But They Haven’t Improved Teaching
The latest evidence against incentive pay: Denver teachers on strike.
Fourteen years ago, Denver public schools embarked on what was hailed as “the most ambitious teacher compensation plan ever attempted.” It was thoughtfully planned, following a years-long pilot program. It won approval from teachers, businesses, local philanthropies and voters.
Yet, somewhat prophetically, a 2005 study of the pilot program on which the Denver incentive-compensation model was based declared that it “demonstrates why, even with thoughtful pilot leadership and broad support, a strict pay for performance system — where performance is defined as student achievement — is an inappropriate model for education.”
Now Denver teachers are on strike, and the merit-based compensation system is the key reason. It has evolved since that original pilot and now rewards far more than student performance; a chief target of striking teachers, for example, is the bonuses given to staff in high-needs schools.
Indeed, the union charges that the compensation system is overly complicated and unpredictable. At the same time, base pay in Denver, which averaged about $57,000 this year, has failed to keep up with inflation and is “among the lowest in the country when adjusted for cost of living,” according to Paul Teske, the dean of public affairs at the University of Colorado Denver.
As states scramble to placate teachers who have staged a wave of walkoutsand strikes during the past year, and to fend off an exodus of teachers from the classroom, they are confronting the need to raise wages, which in most states remain stuck below 2008 levels. For many states, incentive compensation has the appeal of promising pay for performance without substantial increases in spending.
In Texas, for example, where cities were trying to lure striking teachers from neighboring states with offers of a $52,000 starting salary, Texas Governor Greg Abbott called the need to raise teacher pay an “emergency”last week. But Abbott is also promoting a merit pay plan modeled on one in CONTINUE READING: Teacher Bonuses Make So Much Sense. Why Don’t They Work? - Bloomberg
