What happens when we pay public high school teachers based on performance
Linking teacher pay to student test scores appears to attract higher-performing teachers and raise scores in participating districts, but commenters question what those numbers really measure. Many worry that performance-based pay tied to standardized tests encourages “teaching to the test,” gaming, and neglect of harder-to-teach students, and may simply shift good teachers away from poorer areas rather than increasing overall quality. Others argue that better teacher compensation overall, smaller classes, and addressing wider social factors like poverty and family attitudes toward education are more important than narrow incentive schemes.
Overview of the Study and Initial Reactions
- Paper finds Wisconsin districts that switched from seniority-based to performance-based pay:
- Attracted “high-quality” teachers and pushed out weaker ones.
- Increased teacher effort and improved standardized test scores.
- Some commenters find this intuitively appealing and consistent with “pay for performance.”
- Others say the results “confirm my biases,” and may be too neat or zero-sum.
Test Scores, “Teaching to the Test,” and Goodhart’s Law
- Many worry test scores are a poor proxy for true learning:
- Incentivize drill, rote prep, and narrow curricula.
- Risk turning schools into test-prep factories; some students learn to hate school.
- Goodhart’s law is repeatedly invoked: once pay depends on scores, the metric is gamed.
- Examples cited:
- Teachers focusing on easier students and neglecting the hardest cases.
- Selection of better-behaved, more advantaged classes.
- Cheating on standardized tests.
Inequality and Talent Redistribution Across Districts
- Concern that early adopters of flexible pay might just poach good teachers from other districts, not increase total quality.
- Debate over whether rich or poor districts are more likely/able to implement such schemes:
- Poor districts may want change but lack funds.
- High per-pupil funding can be eaten by bureaucracy, leaving little for salaries.
- Several note this could reinforce existing SES-based inequalities unless overall teacher pay rises.
Incentives, Motivation, and Ethics
- Disagreement over whether monetary rewards improve cognitive work:
- Some cite experience (and research) that large extrinsic rewards can backfire.
- Others argue incentives “work” but may distort behavior.
- Anecdotes:
- Performance pay tied to tests led to intense test prep and “widespread cheating.”
- Underpaid teachers facing financial stress may be more susceptible to gaming incentives.
Measurement Problems and Alternatives
- Strong skepticism that standardized tests capture teacher “quality,” especially in challenging classrooms.
- Suggestions and questions:
- Longitudinal outcomes rather than single-year scores.
- Recognition that even “bad” teachers may be better than no teacher.
- Some argue focusing on reducing poverty and class sizes, and raising baseline pay, would do more than complex pay schemes.