1. BY RICHARD KOBIH NKRUMAH
MERIT-BASED PAY, A MISCONCEIVED PERCEPTION AS A MOTIVATIONAL TOOL IN TEACHING
BY RICHARD KOBIH NKRUMAH

2. MERIT-BASED PAY Definition of merit pay
Department of Labor (DOL) defines merit pay as a raise in pay based on a set of criteria set by the employer.
A compensation strategy used by employers to motivate employees to perform better on the job. (Hannah, 2011)
Merit pay in teaching encompasses instances in which teachers receive temporary or permanent salary increases for being more effective in the classroom (Leigh, 2012)

3. MERIT-BASED PAY A brief history on teacher merit pay
Began in 1710 in England
Canada adopted teacher merit pay in 1876 for a brief period before discontinuation in 1883
Merit pay in teaching was implemented in the USA by a school in Newton, Massachusetts in 1908, sparingly.
Became rampant through the 70s and 80s especially during the Reagan administration
Recently:
Project on Incentives in Teaching (POINT) ( )
Special Teachers are Awarded (STAR), 2006 to date
The United Federation of Teachers (UFT) and the New York City Department of Education (DOE),

4. MERIT-BASED PAY Research questions:
Are teachers motivated by the idea of receiving merit pay and who is a motivated teacher?
Does merit pay prevent teacher attrition?

5. MERIT-BASED PAY Reasons for merit pay in education
(Johnson, 1984; Solmon & Podgursky, M. 2000; Buddin et. al., 2007)
Job satisfaction
Keeps the most the effective teachers
Incentivizes higher-achieving individuals to pursue academic careers
Creates a system of professionalism
Teachers will show more attention to student academic and social growth

6. MERIT-BASED PAY Arguments against merit pay in education
(Muro, 1983; Murnane & Cohen, 1986; Harris, 2007; Podgursky & Springer, 2007)
Divisive and morale damaging to a teaching community
Its expensive
Other factors affect student performance
Bias and favoritism
Teachers are intrinsically motivated (Theory X employees)
Output is difficult to measure

7. MERIT-BASED PAY Secondary data analysis
Data was drawn from the School and Staffing Survey (SASS) conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in the 1999/2000 academic year
A random sample of 3000 data entries from cases in the SASS data was taken
To measure merit pay in teaching, the dependent variable was the number of years teachers have stayed in the profession at their respective schools.
Teaching years are influenced by the promise and/or the receipt of merit pay and teacher salary

8. MERIT-BASED PAY Results Table 1. Total number of years spent teaching
Sum of Squares df
Mean Square F
Sig.
Between Groups
35.790 1
.471
.492
Within Groups
2998
75.917
Total
2999

9. MERIT-BASED PAY Analysis Table 2. The One-way ANOVA Model
Coefficientsa
Model
Unstandardized Coefficients
Standardized Coefficients t
Sig. B
Std. Error
Beta A
(Constant)
8.458
.170
49.852
.000
Merit Pay
.335
.488
.013
.687
.492
a. Dependent Variable: Total Years Taught in Current School

10. MERIT-BASED PAY Implications Recommendations
shows there is no statistical significance between teacher motivation to teach better and the promise and /or receipt of merit pay. The ANOVA shows no association between teachers been proactive and performing at their best to ensure students perform well on tests and also, grow socially.
Recommendations
More research and pilot programs should be carried out, but this compensation strategy for teachers should be considered in the near future.

11. MERIT-BASED PAY