President Obama is seeking to add hundreds of millions of dollars for teacher merit pay programs, an often controversial practice linking raises or bonuses to student achievement. This is an investment in a reform that has often drawn criticism from teachers’ unions, whose members make up a powerful segment of the Democratic party.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan supports merit pay for teachers, noting that teachers should be judged on student performance, though not solely on test scores. He says that test scores alone should not decide a teacher’s salary. “But to somehow suggest we should not link student achievement to teacher effectiveness is like suggesting we judge sports teams without looking at the box score,” said Duncan, a former professional basketball player.
While education officials have eliminated 12 programs they say are not proven to benefit students—a savings of $550 million—the department is seeking $517 million for performance pay grants, up from $97 million in last year’s budget. In addition, the stimulus law included an additional $200 million for such programs. States and school districts will compete later this year for a piece of the $5 billion grant fund set up to reward those that adopt innovations the Obama administration supports.
Whether officials tie student data to teacher evaluation will be a consideration, Duncan said. He also envisions performance pay programs that will give a boost to the best teachers and encourage them to work in struggling schools in high-poverty neighborhoods. He said the grants represent a significant investment and would be used to “reward those teachers and those principals that are making a huge difference in students’ lives.”
National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel said in a statement that the “money should be tied to quality professional development…For example, it should be used to focus on the practice of teaching, and rewarding national board certification,” Van Roekel said. “At a time when states are cutting stipends and extra pay for teachers who attain it, these federal funds should be used to plug those holes.”
Schools seeking the grant funding would have flexibility in how bonuses are doled out, but the budget calls for the extra pay to be tied to gains in student achievement as well as multiple evaluations of teachers. Schools also would have to build in a system to reward educators who take on extra tasks or leadership roles.
Michael J. Petrilli, vice president for national programs and policy at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an education think tank, said the challenge will be coming up with programs everyone can agree on. “The administration is showing that it’s serious about paying teachers for performance,” Petrilli said. “Now the question is how ‘performance’ is defined.” In several districts around the country including Chicago, where Duncan ran the public schools, merit pay systems have been created with support from teachers’ unions, a practice he’d like to see continue.
—“Budget Outlines Funding for Teacher Merit Pay Programs,” by Maria Glod, The Washington Post, May 7, 2009.
—“Ed Secretary: judge teachers on how students do,” by Libby Quaid, Associated Press, June 8, 2009.
