Performance-Based Pay for Educators: Assessing the Evidence
Performance-Based Pay for Educators: Assessing the Evidence
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Overview
This book provides an in-depth analysis of a performance-based pay initiative and crystalizes the design issues and implementation challenges that confounded efforts to translate this promising policy into practice. This story has much to say to academics and policymakers who are trying to figure out the combinations of incentives and the full range of resources required to establish incentive programs that promote an adequate supply and equitable distribution of capable and committed educators for our public schools. The book uncovers the conditions that appear to be necessary, if not fully sufficient, for performance-based initiatives to have a chance to realize their ambitious aims and the research that is required to guide policy development. In so doing, the authors consider the thorny question of whether performance-based pay systems for educators are worth the investment.
“Education reformers have long known that performance-based pay is devilishly difficult to implement. All too often top-down, piecemeal changes squander scarce resources and undermine trust. Now, Rice and Malen’s first-rate study of one district’s comprehensive pay reform reveals that even well-planned, collaborative efforts easily go awry, casting further doubt on the promise of pay incentives to improve schooling. This book is required reading for all well-intentioned reformers.”
—Susan Moore Johnson, Harvard University
“Rice and Malen provide a compelling account of one district’s experience with a performance-based incentive program for educators. This book is a rare and valuable analysis of a policy uncovering both the technical and political challenges inherent in designing and implementing reform even under the most promising of conditions. Given the enduring interest in and ongoing federal funding available for pay-for-performance policies—and the surprising lack of research evidence undergirding this popularity—it behooves policymakers, reformers, funders, and students to learn from this important case.”
—Julie A. Marsh, University of Southern California
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780807775615 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Teachers College Press |
| Publication date: | 03/12/2017 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 4 MB |
About the Author
Table of Contents
Authorship and Acknowledgments xi
Part I The Resurgence of Educator Incentive Pay Programs
1 The Policy Context and the Policy-Practice Chasm 3
The Press for Human Capital Reform in Education 3
Purpose of This Book 6
Organization of the Book 7
2 The Theoretical and Empirical Foundations of Educator Incentives 9
Theoretical Literature on the Motivational Potency of Economic Incentives 9
Evidence on Effectiveness: Intended and Unintended Outcomes 13
Evidence on Implementation 17
Integrating the Streams: A Conceptual Framework for Analyzing Educator Incentives 21
3 The Case of FIRST 24
A Promising Design 25
A Supportive but Challenging Context 27
The Study of FIRST 32
Summary 36
Part II Implementing First: How the Best-Laid Plans Can Fall Short
4 Launching FIRST 39
Key Planning Issues 39
Introduction of FIRST to Principals and Teachers 46
Summary 47
5 Participation Patterns 48
Participation Rules: Continuity and Change 48
Administrator Participation: Rates and Reasons 49
Teacher Participation: Rates and Reasons 50
Summary 55
6 Putting the Pieces in Place 56
Professional Growth and Contribution 56
Standards-Based Evaluation Systems 65
Hard-to-Stall Subject Certification 73
Student Performance 75
Summary 79
7 Payday 81
Determination of Award Amounts 81
The Delivery and Adjustment of Payouts 85
The Distribution of Payouts 88
Summary 93
Part III Educator Responses to and Perceived Effects of Performance-Based Incentives: Large Investments, Uneven Returns
8 Educators' Reactions to the Payouts 97
Teacher' Reactions to the Payouts 97
Administrators' Reactions to the Payouts 108
Summary 115
9 Perceived Effects: High Hopes, Uneven Returns 117
Staffing Patterns 117
Teacher Performance 123
Administrator Performance 130
Organizational Effects 136
Summary 141
Part IV Rethinking The Development of Effective Performance-Based Incentives for Educators
10 From Promising Program to Perplexing Questions 145
The Range of Options 146
Design Issues 147
Interrelated Implementation Challenges 150
What Might It Take to Design and Implement Effective Performance-Based Pay Systems? 153
Are Performance-Based Pay Systems Worth the Investment? 159
Notes 161
Appendix: Profile of Interview Sources and Documents Reviewed 167
References 173
Index 185
About the Authors 195
What People are Saying About This
“Education reformers have long known that performance-based pay is devilishly difficult to implement. All too often top-down, piecemeal changes squander scarce resources and undermine trust. Now, Rice and Malen’s first-rate study of one district’s comprehensive pay reform reveals that even well-planned, collaborative efforts easily go awry, casting further doubt on the promise of pay incentives to improve schooling. This book is required reading for all well-intentioned reformers.” —Susan Moore Johnson, Harvard University
“Rice and Malen provide a compelling account of one district’s experience with a performance-based incentive program for educators. This book is a rare and valuable analysis of a policy uncovering both the technical and political challenges inherent in designing and implementing reform even under the most promising of conditions. Given the enduring interest in and ongoing federal funding available for pay-for-performance policies—and the surprising lack of research evidence undergirding this popularity—it behooves policymakers, reformers, funders, and students to learn from this important case.” —Julie A. Marsh, University of Southern California