How teacher pay should work

Tom Vander Ark:

Kim Marshall's December 16 EdWeek commentary attempts to "demolish the argument for individual merit pay." He makes good points that suggest that individual bonuses based solely on value-added test scores are not a good idea. He suggests, instead, team-based bonuses and more pay for master teachers.

There's an alternative in between that most big organizations and it works like this:

• In collaboration with peers and a manager, a Personal Performance Plan, sets out objectives for the year. For a teacher these objectives may include several objective assessments, but would also include team contributions, and a personal growth plan.
• A pool for merit increases is set based on the financial health of the organization and cost of living (let's assume an annual target of 2.5%)
• Quarterly conversations about performance are summarized in a year end document.
• Merit increases would range from 0% for teachers that accomplished few objectives and 5% for teachers that exceeded expectations.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at December 25, 2009 4:33 AM
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