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A Straightforward Guide to Teacher Merit Pay
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A Straightforward Guide to Teacher Merit Pay
Encouraging and Rewarding Schoolwide Improvement

Foreword by James Guthrie, National Superintendents Roundtable



May 2013 | 136 pages | Corwin

Reward your best teachers for the great work they do!

Is your school system considering teacher merit pay? Now is the time to understand the potential benefits and pitfalls of performance-based teacher pay, as well as how today’s most successful programs were developed. Drawing on substantial research with school districts, Gary Ritter and Joshua Barnett provide a step-by-step approach to setting up a merit pay system in your school district. Readers will find

  • An overview of existing merit pay programs and their strengths and weaknesses
  • A review of the 12 most common myths about merit pay, and how school leaders can respond
  • Six guiding principles for designing a merit pay program, along with how-to’s and timelines for every phase
  • Guidance on creating balanced assessments based on multiple measures of teacher effectiveness, and developed in collaboration with teachers

Ensure that your district’s merit pay program supports teachers’ professional growth, schoolwide progress, and student achievement.

“Ritter and Barnett bring much-needed researched clarity to this complex issue. For school administrators, education policy makers, legislators, and others interested in school reform, this book is a must-read.”
—Rod Paige, Former U.S. Secretary of Education

“This guide is a useful resource for undertaking merit pay, preventing pitfalls, and most importantly, offering solid recommendations for creating well-designed implementations.”
—Gary Stark, President and CEO
National Institute for Excellence in Teaching


 
Foreword
 
Preface
 
Acknowledgments
 
About the Authors
 
1. Introduction: Merit Pay as Educational Fad or Genuine Solution
What Is Merit Pay?

 
Why the Interest in Merit Pay?

 
What’s Wrong with the Current Salary System?

 
How Might Merit Pay Help?

 
Why is Merit Pay So Complicated?

 
 
2. Why Is Merit Pay Gaining Momentum? A Brief History
 
3. What Can a Merit Plan Do for Your Teachers and Students?
Evidence on Merit Pay

 
Studies on Teacher Attitudes

 
Studies on Student Achievement

 
Summary of Evidence

 
 
4. The Top 12 Criticisms of Merit Pay
1. Merit Pay Discourages Teaching Disadvantaged Students

 
2. Merit Pay Encourages Teaching to the Test

 
3. What About Teachers of Nontested Subjects?

 
4. Merit Pay Assumes Teachers Teach for the Money; They Don't!

 
5. Teacher Merit Is Just Too Hard to Measure

 
6. Merit Pay Ratings Are Based on a Secret Formula

 
7. Teachers Are Already Working as Hard as They Can

 
8. Merit Pay Bonuses Are Too Small to Matter

 
9. How Is Measuring Teacher Effectiveness Supposed to Improve Instruction?

 
10. Merit Pay Encourages Counterproductive Competition and Discourages Collegiality

 
11. States Can't Afford Merit Pay During Times of Fiscal Austerity

 
12. Merit Pay Is an Unproven Reform

 
 
5. Guiding Principles and Pesky Questions
Guiding Principles for Designing and Implementing a Merit Pay Plan

 
Principle 1: The Evaluation System Must Be Clear and Understandable

 
Principle 2: Consistent Communication Is Critical

 
Principle 3: Evaluations Should Be Based on Multiple and Thoughtful Measures of Effectiveness

 
Principle 4: Plans Should Actively Encourage Collaboration and Discourage Counterproductive Competition

 
Principle 5: Merit Pay Plans Should Be Part of a Comprehensive School Improvement Strategy

 
Principle 6: Merit Pay Bonuses Should Be Substantial and Meaningful

 
Pesky Questions

 
Identifying Program Participants

 
Measuring Teacher Effectiveness

 
Ratings and Rewards

 
 
6. Timelines for Program Development and Implementation
Program Implementation Timeline

 
Step 1: Mulling It Over

 
Step 2: Organizing a Merit Pay Exploratory Committee

 
Step 3: First Meeting With the Exploratory Committee

 
Step 4: Introducing the Concept to the Full School Community

 
Step 5: Details, Details, Details

 
Step 6: Finalizing and Ratifying the Plan, or "Rocking the Vote"

 
Step 7: Getting Ready to Roll Out the Plan

 
Step 8: Gentlemen, Start Your Engines

 
Step 9: Checking In

 
Step 10: Show Me the Money

 
 
7. RAMP: Ramping Up Teacher Pay in Your School
RAMP: General Overview

 
RAMP: Details

 
Supervisor Evaluation

 
Schoolwide Student Achievement

 
Individual Classroom Achievement

 
Translating the Ratings Into Dollars

 
Closing

 
 
8. Conclusions
Finding Funding

 
Expectations for Your Program

 
Closing

 
Appendix A: Sample Teacher Survey

 
Appendix B: Project on Incentives in Teaching (POINT) Teacher Survey

 
Appendix C: Sample Report Card

 
 
References
 
Index
RAMP: Applying the Principles

 

"Gary Ritter and Joshua Barnett have captured and shared extensive information that provides historical background as it relates to and resulted in the current context of the public schools. A Straightforward Guide to Teacher Merit Pay has helped me process my thinking through four decades in the profession."

Douglas Gordon Hesbol, Educational Consultant and Retired Superintendent
Yorkville, IL
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Key features
We will provide extensive charts, tables, and figures for each of the four aforementioned programs we described. We anticipate having approximately 20 tables, figures, workflows, and charts within the "how to" guide, presenting evidence from the work we have done and examples of what successful programs should include. We also will provide a flow chart for how to develop a program. See prospectus for examples.

Purchasing options

For large school/district orders, volume discounts, availability and shipping times contact customer service at 800-233-9936
or order@corwin.com.

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ISBN: 9781452255514
CAD$ 54.95

For large school/district orders, volume discounts, availability and shipping times contact customer service at 800-233-9936
or order@corwin.com.

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