Is There Justification For Merit Pay?

This post is a part of the Talking Points section on the Teachers Lounge page. These articles discuss current hot topics in education that is the point of much discussion in teachers lounges all across America.

The controversial topic of merit based or performance based is among the most heated topics in education today. The debate is whether or not teachers salaries should be reflected by by student performance or should it be as it always has where teachers are paid by education and experience.

Merit Pay Pros-

• Teachers get are rewarded for their production
• Less degrees are needed to make higher wages

Merit Pay Cons-

• Students grades may not reflect efort and expertise of the teacher
• Student populations vary; AP teachers will undoubtedly have higher scores than remedial students

Are we able to justify paying teachers based off of student data. There are so many variables; what if the students are apathetic, how about if they have learning disabilities, what if they are distracted on test day or have test anxiety? Do we hold the teacher accountable for these problems that are out of her control. The theory behind merit pay is sound but in reality it does not seem fair. 

On the flip side you have teachers who have no business being in a classroom making $50,000-$80,000 a year on the taxpayers bill. If their students consistently under perform how can we justify continuing to give them raises and steady jobs. 

A Happy Medium

• There are other options that have been suggested. Offering teacher incentives for performance should motivate teachers to try harder, yet they still have a secure base salary that they can rely on.
• Option contracts teachers have the option to select their contract that they will use for a 5yr period and with extra incentives in the performance based contract. 
• Another alternative is grading students progress from previous years. Percentage growth rather than raw scores. So in this scenario the teacher is not trying to out do other classes but rather attempting to improve their own results.

Where do you stand on this issue? Is there a clear direction that the schools should go in? Is their other alternatives to consider?