Merits of merit pay aren’t all that proponents say

For years Washington educators heard the same cliche from folks opposing school levies or bonds: “You can’t solve problems in education by throwing money at them.”

All that changed when Bill Gates’ National Math and Science Institute offered seven schools $13.2 million if they would institute merit pay for teachers. Suddenly, those opposed to throwing money at education were outraged because the teachers’ union rejected Gates’ money.

We’ve read all about the teachers’ union. They’re those money-grubbing protectionists who don’t care a whit about kids. Right.

I’m one of those dues-paying teachers. I have two bachelor’s degrees, I’ve done everything except the thesis for two different master’s degrees, and I’m required to get 150 hours of continuing education credits every five years so I’ll be adequately equipped to teach music to elementary students. I teach in a dingy portable that is more than 20 years old because, as we all know, bond measures to build permanent classrooms are just misguided attempts to throw money at education problems. Still, some would have you believe I chose teaching over, say, law, because I’m out to make money and don’t care about kids — not even my own four, who all attended the district in which I teach.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that people who buy into such logic don’t see the irony in their current complaints. If columnists such as Richard S. Davis (Wednesday’s Herald, “Washington shouldn’t say no to schools innovation”) would ask the Washington Education Association why it opposes merit pay, they might get the facts behind the headlines.

Here’s a homework assignment for Mr. Davis and like-minded individuals: Read Dr. Alfie Kohn’s well-researched book, “Punished By Rewards.” You’ll learn that merit pay not only reduces the productivity of those who don’t receive it, it reduces the productivity of those who do! Evidently, throwing money at people to motivate them causes them to do just enough to get the “prize” rather than to do their best. And eventually many workers decide they don’t care enough about the prize to put forth the effort to win it. Pride in one’s work, cooperation, team spirit and self-motivation all wither away in an atmosphere of competition, cheating and resentment.

Think about it: Do you want the veteran teacher to pop into the rookie’s room with an offer to share teaching tips, or do you want her to view the newcomer as competition for the money?

There’s another problem with merit pay. It assumes that teacher effort is the sole factor in student test scores. Yet studies repeatedly show that parental income is the biggest predictor of student test scores. The correlation is as strong as the link between smoking and lung cancer.

As for basing merit pay on student improvement, let me share some of the challenges I’ve faced in 34 years of teaching: There was the girl who was absent every other day for two weeks, always with a note from her mother containing a new excuse. There were kids who missed a full week of school because they were going hunting or were headed to Disneyland a week before spring break because their parents didn’t want to stand in long lines. There was the skating party held during the school day involving much of my class. There was the boy who was continually an hour late for school and once announced that for breakfast he’d eaten nothing but two pieces of red licorice. I could go on, but you get the picture.

Should my pay really be dependent on these kids’ test scores? And how about those dedicated special education teachers? They’d be completely left out of this deal, wouldn’t they?

Bill Gates is undoubtedly an expert when it comes to computers. Still, I’ve never seen evidence that he knows squat about educating kids. What next? Will he offer money to Children’s Hospital as long as he gets to dictate how the brain surgeons conduct their operations? Wouldn’t we hope those surgeons would decline his generous but misguided offer?

I’m proud to be affiliated with a dedicated group of people, most of whom, like me, are parents whose kids attend public schools, and who chose this profession because helping kids means more to us than any wad of money. I oppose merit pay because it doesn’t work and it isn’t fair. Now, there’s a wad for Mr. Davis to chew on.

Beverly Hoback lives in Arlington and teaches music in the Lakewood School District.