Pay-for-Performance: Enhancing Teacher Performance to Improve Education Quality - Essay Sample

Introduction

The pay on performance plan was pegged on remunerating workers based on individual products rather than hours spent on a task at an established salary. The method of payment has been adopted in learning institutions to create some impacts on teachers’ performance based on their output. Besides, education reformers have, since time immemorial, manifested determination in improving teaching quality through various means possible. Based on this line of assertion, improving teachers’ ranks has been one of the driving tools to achieve the core desires of education reformers. Such motives also fueled the increment in the qualities teachers exerted in their professional field. Moreover, many teachers have gained promotional merits based on their levels of education and years of service in the profession. The continuous growth of teacher quality in the public domain has fueled a critical evaluation of the pa-for-performance plan.

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Most of the district schools in the United States of America are believed to have adopted the pay-for-performance initiative as the best way to reinforce positively the good works done by teachers in various schools (Hill et al., 2020). However, some advocates argue that the plan to disburse payment does not improve the achievement of students in schools. Education reformers should, therefore, analyze the effectiveness of the new method of payment to achieve the utmost fulfilment of educational objectives. One of the typical ways of measuring the effectiveness of a pay-for-performance plan is through conducting an analysis of teachers’ employers as well as evaluating the views of teachers concerning the discourse topic. Education reformers should, therefore, focus their attention on the significant impacts affiliated to the pay-for-performance plan. Additionally, if the consequences are aligned to achieving the first set objectives of learning, then the method may be considered as sufficient. Besides, an independent evaluation test scores could be the best means of testing the effectiveness of the pay-for-performance plan.

The Disadvantages of Using a Pay-for-Performance Plan from an Employees’ Point of View

Even though the pay-for-performance plan fueled the utmost determination of teachers to their services, it arguable that the program mitigated collaborative school environments. The implementation of the plan rendered an independent struggle for perfection in results in various schools because promotion to higher scales of payment remained pegged on the best results. Therefore, many teachers focused on improving their subjects’ areas per Se to gain an increment in pay and neglected the collaborative contribution towards the overall results of students. Therefore, most teachers asserted that the pay-for-performance scheme could only be effective if it promotes unity in the schools and other related working ambience. Teachers, therefore, believed that the method of payment was biased and did not observe logical criteria in rendering promotional merits to colleagues. Additionally, the plan was conditioned to favour some teachers while demoralizing the efforts made by most teachers towards achieving the overall school mean. The teachers, therefore, argued that all credits would be directed to specific teachers rather than recognizing contributions made by other teachers.

Based on the discriminatory aspect of the pay-for-performance initiative, teachers handling technical subjects such as sciences and mathematics were less favoured. Most schools all over the world registered low rates of performance in the technical issues as compared to other areas of study. It, therefore, became evident that the pay-for-performance plan targeted the promotion of just a portion of the entire teachers’ population. The teachers, thus, argued that improving the qualities of teachers was not only pegged on the pay-for-performance plan alone but rather on a neglected aspect of success. According to the teachers, observation of respect to all educators was the best way of unlocking the desired good qualities of teachers in schools. Additionally, the teachers argued that the success of students was pegged on a different way of treating teachers and availing relevant learning materials.

The Disadvantages of Using a Pay-for-Performance Plan from an Employer’s Point of View

The school administrators also joined hands with the teachers that opposed the implementation of the pay-for-performance plan because of the lack of collaborative environment it fueled in learning institutions. According to the school administrators, the pay-for-performance program promoted a deteriorated quality and performance in teachers because the teachers only focused on better results rather than the overall attributes of learners. Some of the educators drilled their learners to achieve high scores. Besides, the method of reinforcing the good works by the teachers did promote an overlook of essential aspects of learning outcome. The administrators argued that learning should not only aim at achieving academic excellence but instead produce an all-round student that can match the changing demands of the world. School administrators argued that the pay-for-performance plan was a gateway to abolishing some of the core objectives of learning outcomes. Therefore for effective implementation of the pay-for-performance initiative, promotion should be based on overall output rather than a poor class performance or individual subject performance.

Besides, school administrators reported that the pay-for-performance scheme only fueled individualism in learning environments (Hill et al., 2020). The lack of teamwork in schools was pegged on the fact that the new method of reinforcement focused on upholding the personal interests of teachers. Teachers only became concentrated on strengthening their subjects to gain promotional merits and neglected the overall school’s goals. Additionally, the pay-for-performance facilitated unhealthy competitions in learning situations, thereby making education undesirable in the eyes of beholders and learners. If education aims to provide unity in the public domain, then different administrators argued that pay-for-performance would mitigate the effects of learning in students. Nonetheless, school administrators reported that the pay-for-performance created resistance to changes in schools. Teachers only focused on results while neglecting the other changes made in learning environments.

Reference

Hill, A. J., & Jones, D. B. (2020). The Impacts of Performance Pay on Teacher Effectiveness and Retention Does Teacher Gender Matter?. Journal of Human Resources, 55(1), 349-385.