A Comparison of Individual and School Level Approaches to Merit Pay

Résumé du livre

This policy study discusses two models of merit pay programs enacted in Florida: the Florida Meritorious Teacher Program and the Quality Instruction Incentives Program (quiip). Using the Motivation-Hygiene Theory (Herzberg et al.) as a theoretical framework, each program was analyzed from the perspective of how it worked as a motivator and source of satisfaction or dissatisfaction for teachers in their work. Evidence from the research was sufficient to warrant a number of general conclusions about the two programs: (1) business imposed its model of merit pay (the Florida Master Teacher Program) on the educational system; (2) quiip was implemented in response to the perceived limitations of the Florida Master Teacher Program; (3) merit pay became a confusing phenomenon for both those experiencing it and evaluating it, with two different programs being imposed on teachers at the same time; (4) the two models of merit pay functioned, in part, in different ways; and (5) merit pay in either the form of school based merit pay or individual level merit pay does not provide a solution to the general problem of low teacher salaries. Policy recommendations are suggested based on these conclusions. (Jd).