Teacher Bonuses and Student Performance on Standardized Tests

Teachers are grossly underpaid; there is no doubt about it. According to a survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) starting salaries for teachers are seriously lagging behind starting salaries of other professionals in occupations which are comparable to teaching in terms of required training and job duties. In the United States the average annual salary for a new teacher is $30,377 compared to $43,635 for an entry level computer programmer and $44,668 for an entry level accountant. The NACE also reports that over time the salary gap continues to widen as increases and promotions for other professionals soon outpace those of educators.

It is also no secret that the quality of education in America varies greatly by school district. In Jonathan Kozol's book, "The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America" the author reveals the shocking disparity between the quality of inner city schools, poverty stricken rural schools and schools located in more affluent neighborhoods.

However, despite these unfortunate realities I do not believe that awarding teacher bonuses on the basis of student performance on standardized tests is an adequate solution.

I should first state that I am not an educator. Rather, I have served in a variety of management roles in the corporate sector for over twenty years. However, my company implemented a "Pay for Performance" incentive program about 10 years ago. As a result I have experienced the challenges associated with implementing effective bonus programs first hand.

On the surface, rewarding people based on specific aspects of their job performance sounds like a wonderful idea. The problem however is actually twofold, deciding what to measure and then developing an effective system of how to measure. This is much more difficult that it would appear.

Even the most straightforward measurement systems can have unexpected results. For example, one of the key measures in our bonus program was "Time Service." It was designed with the idea that providing employees incentives to process customer applications quickly would greatly improve customer service and satisfaction. However, as employees rushed to push work out quickly, they made more errors, which led to a decline in customer satisfaction.

I suspect there would be similar challenges associated with teacher bonuses based solely on standardized test scores. Would such a program result in the school day being transformed into nothing more than test preparation sessions, with little opportunity for creative thought and spontaneous learning?

School districts would also have to be mindful of how to measure improvement. Would every single student need to show individual improvement or would the bonus be based upon class average? If only the average of the entire class is considered how would schools propose to guard against teachers focusing all of their time and attention upon maximizing the scores of the best and brightest students in an effort to raise the group average while neglecting the at risk students who would require more time but might be less likely to make significant academic gains?

Finally, would teachers be forced to compete for a limited number of bonus dollars based upon the performance of each individual class or would there be team incentives for teachers in an entire school or district? There are challenges inherent to both systems. The former places teachers in a competitive situation which could lessen teamwork and cooperation among colleagues, while the latter could result in a watered down program with bonuses so small that they would do little to inspire drastically increased amounts of effort from educators who might be weaker in their teaching skills. Good teachers will probably always be good teachers, bonus or not. But a poorly constructed bonus program might actually serve to make the small percentage of bad teachers worse.

Rather than awarding teacher bonuses based upon standardized test scores, why not lobby to raise teacher salaries overall? A state-by-state job outlook report compiled by the National Education Association shows that nearly every U.S. state is suffering from a teacher shortage, especially in the areas of math, science and special education. New college graduates with degrees in mathematics and science can earn far more in non-teaching fields. Why not concentrate on making teacher salaries comparable to the salaries that could be earned by these young people in other industries in order to attract the best and brightest students to the teaching profession?

As Americans we are quite fond of professing that "children are our future" and yet we allow the people charged with preparing children to succeed in that future to be paid far less than a living wage in many areas of the country. It is definitely time to shift our priorities and pay teachers what they are worth.

References:
Kozol, Jonathan. The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2005.
www.nea.org