A few years ago, it was only a vision that a few gadflies and even fewer politicians had: Hand out money, real money, to the public schools that do the best jobs educating our kids, and give schools two different paths to claim the rewards:
First, give substantial bonuses to schools in which the students score in the top 5 or 10 percent among their peers. But then also give a separate bonus to schools that make the most progress. That would give incentives to schools and teachers and principals in the traditionally high-scoring schools, and in the traditionally challenging ones.
Believe it or not, there was opposition. There always is where merit pay is concerned. There are some--mostly in the education system--who demand (constantly) that rising monetary rewards be spread across the board, and dislike the idea of paying more to any teacher who does a better job than the next. After all, the bored, and boring, teacher sleep-walking to retirement pays union dues, too.
But the idea of merit pay caught on. As if educators were people, too, and could be motivated by recognition and reward. And this week, another round of big checks were passed out to nearly 200 schools across the state.
In Pulaski County, 15 schools were recognized at the Little Rock Regional Chamber on Monday. Amounts on the checks ranged from a little more than $11,000 to more than $85,000. The state will hand out nearly $7 million in these bonuses based on the spring 2017 ACT Aspire exams. (That's still too much lag time between testing and rewarding. But let's focus on the positive today.) The money can be used for bonuses for teachers, hiring new hands, buying better and newer equipment for the classrooms, or maybe just whatever the schools can get approved through the state.
Leave it to Gary Newton to explain why the rewards system is important, as was the ceremony: "It is hard to celebrate a direct deposit," the boss of Arkansas Learns told the press. "There are so many sticks out there to punish schools. Both of these initiatives were created to be the carrot."
Both. For the best schools are recognized this way, as are the schools showing the most improvement.
Pay-for-performance works in business, government, the arts, newspapering, advertising, the military, sports, entertainment, lawn care, the travel industry, the medical profession, motorcycle maintenance, lumberjacking . . . . Well, pay-for-performance works just about every time it's used. It's called human nature. People not only want to be paid more for better results, but humans like to be recognized by their peers when their work is better than average. Whaddaya gonna do about human nature? Egalitarianism may sound good in theory--at least to some of us--but it doesn't seem to work well in practice. People are individuals--and like to be treated as individuals.
HERE'S WHAT is often overlooked about merit pay plans: They're not simply an inducement for better performance, like bonuses in business and industry and even government. (Although they are certainly that.) Merit pay plans are also a way to reshape the educational system in the best way--by focusing on the accomplishments of the kids and, at last, showing what works, and what does not.
Because merit pay requires a dependable system by which to measure success, teachers may have a reliable way of seeing which of their methods catch on in the classroom. This kind of reform cuts down on the guesswork. It validates the work of the best teachers and wakes up the less than best, who may not even have realized that there are better ways to teach.
Now something that was once a dream is reality.
To those gadflies and politicians, and to the state and education department, to the principals and schools--but especially to all those teachers who deserve this honor--a tip of the hat.
Editorial on 05/23/2018