Merit Pay in Education

Abstract

Merit pay is a hot topic that has gained much currency over the last decade. It continues to be highly controversial as there has been limited scientific research to warrant the concept. Even so, policy makers continue to use funding towards merit pay as a tool to encourage an improvement of assessment test scores through teacher performance. Through this review, the evolution of Florida Competency Assessment Test (FCAT) is analyzed. The establishment of merit pay in Florida is discussed along with important statutes and programs that have been utilized to support it. Programs that will be discussed include Effectiveness-Compensation (E-Comp), Special Teachers Are Rewarded (STAR), and Merit Award Program (MAP). Recent government funding that will be injected into education has been made possible because of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Due to this, Florida has elected to participate in the Race to the Top and Teacher Incentive Program which are centered in merit. Additionally, the Vanderbilt POINT Experiment and the National Education Longitudinal Survey (NELS) will be reviewed along with findings to discern empirical research regarding merit pay. Is it possible that merit pay is beneficial for the educational system in Florida?

Merit Pay in Education

Public Human Resource Management must abide by complex employment laws while successfully performing work related tasks and striving to achieve the goals of the organization. Employment laws are grounded to effectively balance competing interests within the organization: The need for employers to efficiently manage their workforce, the rights of employees, and the pursuit of government objectives through policy must all be criteria of a successful management within an organization (Berman, Bowman, West, and Van Wart, 2010).

Pay and benefits equate to 80% of the government's operating budget. The public sector is notorious for extending low salaries to employees: The dominate reason for lowered salaries are due to budget constraints. Taxpayers indefinitely fund all government programs and wages. Furthermore, there is constant pressure from the people to reduce taxes. It becomes difficult, if not impossible, for the government to balance obligations to its employees and taxpayers. Considering the aforementioned statements, government organizations have limited funds to work within the achievement of goals: Sometimes the goals of the organization suffer as do the government salaries (Haraway, mini-lecture). There have been a series of reforms throughout the history of our government to address and revise these insufficient public sector salaries. A general example of such a reform is the Federal Salary Reform Act of 1962 established that public sector salaries match those of the private sector: This Act was codified in the Federal