Vanderbilt Study: Merit Pay Does Not Boost Test Scores

[Orlandodem]

The evidence is starting to come in that Obama's RTTT plan is going to fail. The Bill Gates/Michelle Rhee model of education will fail. There is a reason that the mayor of DC LOST. I hope Michelle Rhee sees this article. I hope Bill Gates sees this article. I hope Oprah Winfrey sees this article.

Please make this part of the teacher town hall this week on NBC's Education Nation.

My message to President Obama: Dump Duncan and RTTT or I don't vote for you in 2012. Please pass this on to every parent and teacher you know.

SNIP

Offering middle-school math teachers bonuses up to $15,000 did not produce gains in student test scores, Vanderbilt University researchers reported Tuesday in what they said was the first scientifically rigorous test of merit pay.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-09-21-merit-pay_N.htm

[ProgressiveEconomist]

1. Was the $15k offered only to new hires over a period of several years? Or was it

offered to existing teachers too?

If the latter, by what mechanism would you expect student scores to rise? How would an extra $15k change any existing teacher's performance dramatically? You can't teach what you don't really know inside-out yourself, can you?

[d_r]

2. I don't know the answer to your question

But I do know that $15K might have me thinking of ways to help kids cheat on standardized tests.

[Orlandodem]

3. The first problem with your post is that you're asking about

measuring a teacher's performance. It is the teacher's job to present information and help students learn to the best of the students' ability. It is the duty of the student to "perform."