The concept of merit pay for teachers has been around a long time.  It has been through many phases but invariably rests on the idea that teachers whose students score well on standardized tests should receive bonuses. Teachers whose students fail to meet those expectations not only do not receive bonuses but can run the risk of punitive action.

At its most simple this appears logical.  The success of most professions in a capitalist based society is predicated on the quality of the product or service they provide.  The problem is that education is not a free market institution and the teachers have little control over so many critical aspects that basing their pay on student performance is somewhat like shooting the messenger for the news.

See if the following analogy makes sense. Imagine a mechanic, by all accounts an excellent mechanic, goes to work in a government garage.  In this garage he has to work on all kinds of cars, all makes and models.  He cannot specialize or focus on one particular type of vehicle.  He is given a set of tools and strictly forbidden from bringing in unapproved tools despite their quality or appropriateness for his work.  The set of tools he is given are all metric, which works for the majority of vehicles.  He is, however, required to still work on vehicles with english/standard/customary (choose your term for the system using inches).  In addition to having to use metric tools on non metric car parts he is also told that he can only use one weight of oil, one type of fuel, use parts from only one particular manufacturer, share a garage bay with three other similarly equipped mechanics, secure up to 40 vehicles on a lot built for 30, maintain detailed paperwork on every part and adjustment applied to a vehicle, document plans for the preparation, implementation and outcome of every repair, devise, document, implement and collect data on additional plans for repairs that do not appear to be going well, be given policies and deadlines by bureaucrats who may or may not have ever been mechanics, be paid a flat rate for all services without regard to hours required to do the job and hold meetings with the management and car owners to justify unsuccessful repairs without mentioning any of the conditions or lack of proper tools etc to the car owner.  Then tell that mechanic that he is going to receive bonuses or punitive action based on his rate of successful repair.  The success of repair is based on computer diagnostics even if the computer being used is faulty or does not connect well with each car serviced.

Now a mediocre mechanic who works in a garage that receives mostly well maintained cars with metric parts is going to do very well. A very talented mechanic gets a variety of vehicles including those that have not been maintained, those of non metric measure, those needing parts which are unavailable from the approved distributor, those requiring additional time for repair, those vehicles which the mechanic knows that if he were allowed to use other tools, parts and items from outside the approved list; he might have a chance of making a good repair. Despite talent and creativity, that second mechanic cannot make the necessary repairs with the approved system or the final diagnostics do not indicate a successful repair even though the vehicle appears to be running well, so he does not receive a bonus and his is threatened with loss of job or reduction in pay.

Merit pay assumes a certain level of control over productivity.  Teachers seldom have that level of control.  They use books/curriculum selected as much for the price tag as for quality. They are required to use programs regardless of effectiveness. They are prohibited from introducing unapproved items.  They have no control over who comes to their classroom or how appropriate the curriculum is for that child.  In some situations the very method of instruction is dictated.  They are given pacing charts which must be followed regardless of the time needed to produce genuine comprehension in their students. They must do this while justifying their existence on paper and maintaining order in a room built for 25 students but containing 35.

If bureaucrats are going to pay teachers on the merits of their students’ performance then give them control of their materials, methods, pacing and environment.  If bureaucrats are going to cripple teachers by dictating all of the above then the bureaucrats should be fired/maintained/punished/rewarded based on student performance.  Why punish the mechanic because a diesel engine will never run well on unleaded gas?

The most dramatic success stories you hear about in education are with regard to teachers who were allowed to exceed the boundaries of the established system.  To make villains of teachers because the system is broken all but insures that the teaching profession will devolve into the kind of corrupt, self serving, opportunistic depths of every other government lapdog career.  Instead of teaching, administrators and teachers in some systems have already shifted their focus to how to falsify documentation to make test scores look good. You hear about principals directing staff to change answers on student tests or distribute answers before a test.  They know they have inadequate tools to effectively teach the students in their schools so they try to work the system by lying to it.

Before you pay me based on my students’ performance first look at whether or not I have the necessary tools, space and time to do what needs to be done. Then look at how much my students have gained in knowledge and proficiency under my instruction, not whether or not they have reached an arbitrary benchmark. Finally, take into consideration that education does not happen in a vacuum.  There are outside influences. If a student has a dysfunctional parent situation, illness or other situation that prevents them from receiving the full benefit of the education provided, there is little a teacher can do within the constraints of the current system.  Teachers have definite boundaries in terms of student and family involvement.

The Hollywood hero teacher you see on TV visiting homes, tutoring in their own home, meeting with kids outside of school etc is functioning in defiance of established policy.  Consider that if that home visit goes wrong, a student misunderstands something or becomes angry with a teacher during a home tutoring session or a meeting outside of school is perceived as something other than educational, your hero teacher turns into tomorrows alleged pedophile suspect.

In the real world, here in the U.S., teachers are looked down upon, blamed for every education related fault, villainized by the media which focuses on the despicable acts of a few, and now may be paid for the privilege of those conditions based on outcomes of a process they had little control over.

Is it any wonder teachers burn out and those that remain are either insanely dedicated or frighteningly inadequate?