This article is about merit pay, and how it should be implemented into teacher’s salaries, and used as a strategy to get good teachers. There are some questions that arise out of this article. Do incentives work for merit pay? And is merit pay effective to increase the good teachers and leave out the bad? When schools adopt this strategy to get good teachers and keeping them motivated, what form should merit pay take and how to they pay for it?
There are two sides to the merit pay strategy for developing better teachers. Giving a little extra to the teachers for students doing well will be part of their education strategy. "The public supports paying teachers on the basis of performance," said Thomas Toch, co-director of Education Sector, an independent think tank. "They believe that there are good teachers and bad teachers and they want to do anything that increases the number of good teachers." The other side is what about the bad students that the teacher can’t do anything about? Some argue that there is always going to be those students who have low academic performance, and that even the best teachers don’t have an effect on them. Under a merit pay of student performance, these teachers don’t get rewarded.
There’s also another strategy of having a system that doesn’t take student’s performance into account. Some critics charge that this is unfair because they reward the best teachers the same as the worst. Let’s face it, don’t most teachers want to be “good teachers”? Most of them go into the field to teach, inspire and guide students to be better. Their primary motive is making a difference and helping the students, and not the pay. However, that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be rewarded for their hard work. There’s a lot that goes into teaching. Teachers have to always learn different learning strategies to keep their kids on their toes and succeeding. They have to adapt to different teaching styles in order to be effective teachers with different types of students. They are also nurturers, give guidance and teach kids important values and lessons in life. They are part of the child’s development into becoming good citizens and a better person in the future. Why not reward them? Teaching is important for the children as it has an effect over their life time achievements. Good quality teaching matters more to student achievement than anything else schools provide. States, districts and schools need to focus on attracting, training, and supporting the very best people for the job. There’s nothing wrong with a little more motivation.
There are two sides to the merit pay strategy for developing better teachers. Giving a little extra to the teachers for students doing well will be part of their education strategy. "The public supports paying teachers on the basis of performance," said Thomas Toch, co-director of Education Sector, an independent think tank. "They believe that there are good teachers and bad teachers and they want to do anything that increases the number of good teachers." The other side is what about the bad students that the teacher can’t do anything about? Some argue that there is always going to be those students who have low academic performance, and that even the best teachers don’t have an effect on them. Under a merit pay of student performance, these teachers don’t get rewarded.
There’s also another strategy of having a system that doesn’t take student’s performance into account. Some critics charge that this is unfair because they reward the best teachers the same as the worst. Let’s face it, don’t most teachers want to be “good teachers”? Most of them go into the field to teach, inspire and guide students to be better. Their primary motive is making a difference and helping the students, and not the pay. However, that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be rewarded for their hard work. There’s a lot that goes into teaching. Teachers have to always learn different learning strategies to keep their kids on their toes and succeeding. They have to adapt to different teaching styles in order to be effective teachers with different types of students. They are also nurturers, give guidance and teach kids important values and lessons in life. They are part of the child’s development into becoming good citizens and a better person in the future. Why not reward them? Teaching is important for the children as it has an effect over their life time achievements. Good quality teaching matters more to student achievement than anything else schools provide. States, districts and schools need to focus on attracting, training, and supporting the very best people for the job. There’s nothing wrong with a little more motivation.
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