What is Merit Pay for Teachers?
Merit pay for teachers is a pay scale for people in the teaching profession which is based on performance, rather than tenure. Many people are proponents of merit pay systems, arguing that they reward good teachers for skilled work while encouraging others to develop more professional skills. However, organizations such as the American Federation of Teachers have raised concerns about how merit pay plans are administered, suggesting that teacher performance is a challenging thing to evaluate, and merit pay plans may not be the best way to improve overall educational standards. When a district uses a merit pay plan, it typically creates a system for evaluating teacher performance, and examines the teachers in the district regularly to see how they are performing. A teacher who routinely performs above the standard may be offered merit pay for his or her work, as will teachers who experience a great deal of professional growth, while other teachers are kept at the regular pay standard. D
