Some educators call proposal untenable, costly. Others say it may help attract instructors.By Cara Mia DiMassa and Joel Rubin, Times Staff Writers
Governer Schwarzenegger has proposed a bold move in his state of the state address to California. He has advocated a merit-based pay system for teachers in the state. No details were laid out of a plan, just the statement of his desire to see pay somehow linked to performance.
The arguments against merit pay all amount to this: How could you make it fair? Do you link it to a teacher's evaluation? But evaluations are so subjective. Test scores? Do teachers in more challenging positions such as in the inner-city get more pay? How is that measured?
I can see the case that if some sort of link to performance were added, then teachers have an incentive to perform better. But it seems that there would have to be an individual set of criteria for every teacher. At the beginning of the year, for example, teachers could be required to set a realistic set of performance goals for their students. Bonuses could be awarded based on how well the students meet those goals.
Currently in my school districts, teachers at schools who demonstrate progress toward meeting certain performance targets from the superintendent each year receive a one-time bonus check. This is awarded by school, however, not by the individual. And the system seems to be heavily weighted in favor of elementary schools. At the annual awards ceremony, an overwhelming number of the districts' elementary schools are on the list of schools receiving their bonus, versus very few, if any, of the high schools.
One way I suppose would be to let teachers negotiate thier salary with their principal. When you have accomplished a certain amount and can use your accomplishments to market yourself to ask for a raise, or to seek a certain level of compensation when applying for a new postion. Basically like they do in the "real" world.
Teachers do get more pay for advanced degrees and professional development. Assuming all goes well I will receive an annual 10 percent bonus after I complete my National Board Certification at the end of this year. This amounts to an effective merit pay, presumably. Teachers with advanced training technically are better equipped, and will yield better results. National Board Certification is still fairly new, but there are already studies out that say that students of Nat'l Board Certified teachers outperform those of non-NBCT's in standardized math tests.
Anyway, it will be interesting to see how the merit-pay argument plays out. Teachers unions are all out against it. But with conservatives taking more control in government all around the country, there may be a stronger and stronger push for something like this.
I'd like to see any studies on any districts that have gone to a merit pay system.
10:06:18 PM 
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