In 2007, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg decided to put $75 million dollars into a program that was designed to incentivize teachers to work harder. He expected dramatic results. What he got was nothing, according to a study by Harvard economist Roland Fryer.
Fryer’s study showed a slight decline in performance for schools that participated in the merit pay program.
These results add to a growing body of research showing merit pay as an ineffective method for improving schools. Despite these findings, the federal government is eager to hand out Race to the Top (RTTT) federal education dollars to states which include a merit pay component.
States receiving RTTT funds promise to link teacher pay with standardized test results. This means, in order for a teacher to get the highest pay, he or she must produce students who score high on the reading/math standardized tests. It seems that merit pay will incentivize teachers to skip teaching history, civics, science and the arts in order to cover more important topics like test-taking skills.
Individual states are jumping on the merit pay bandwagon. Indiana and Florida have passed legislation mandating the practice, and Mississippi is rapidly moving that direction. Despite ending the unsuccessful merit pay experiment that Fryor evaluated in 2011, Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave the practice a big endorsement at last month’s US Council of Mayors meeting.
It’s puzzling why Bloomberg and other politicians don’t address poverty other true causes of low-performing students, instead of thinking that thousands of lazy teachers just need to work harder.
I think we should get Steven Levitt on this (author of Freakanomics). His research has a lot to do with incentives and if they do/don't work.
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