Daugaard Still Wrong: Research Shows Merit Pay Effects “Minimal”

Market Incentives Also Fail to Stanch Teacher Shortages

The Associated School Boards of South Dakota issue "Teacher Quality, Teacher Compensation, and HB 1234," a policy brief summarizing and reviewing research related to Governor Dennis Daugaard's proposals for selective merit pay, bonuses for math and science teachers, and statewide teacher evaluations.

ASBSD's bibliography isn't quite as updated as mine (2010, 2011, 2012... heck, even Leo postdates ASBSD with this Pink interview from the end of 2009), and their conclusions aren't as direct and forceful... but they offer a careful, tactful pronouncement that squares with my position that merit pay should not be a priority:

Based on current research, it's unclear whether merit-based compensation will lead to improved student achievement. Early performance pay experiments quickly faded away and the programs were rarely evaluated for effectiveness. The emergence of better data systems is beginning to shed new light on performance pay and its potential to positively impact student achievement, although the effects are minimal. A wide variance in the type of rewards offered makes it difficult to determine the policy components most conducive to effective merit pay systems. The lack of coherent research and policy guidance raises its own implications. Most notably, there is no way to determine whether performance pay is an effective way to invest limited financial resources [Associated School Boards of South Dakota, "Teacher Quality, Teacher Compensation, and HB 1234," issue brief, 2012.02.03].

ASBSD's brief also points out that South Dakota has tried market-based incentives like the math/science bonuses the Governor proposes. ASBSD cites three South Dakota programs—Dakota Assets, Dakota Corps, and the Teacher Compensation Assistance Program—that have offered financial incentives to teachers in hard-to-recruit teaching fields. Those programs have not prevented the number of teacher shortage areas in South Dakota from doubling since 2008.

In other words, neither research nor South Dakota's own experience indicate that Governor Daugaard will get any bang for his fifteen million bucks, at least not the way he's proposing to use it.