Teacher quality research and the study of teacher effects received renewed attention and emphasis with Sanders and Rivers' (1996) startling finding that teacher effects are both additive and cumulative, persisting up to an estimated two years after the student has left the teacher's classroom. Sanders and Rivers estimated that a student receiving…

Reviews research on performance-based pay in England and Wales, examining: its effects on teacher behavior; its benefits and disadvantages; and performance-based pay in the United States, and noting studies of the conditions under which performance-based pay succeeds. The paper concludes that performance-based pay works best in situations that…

Merit pay proponents argue that merit pay will: (1) attract higher caliber individuals to teaching; (2) retain good teachers; and (3) motivate teachers to improve instruction. These claims are investigated. Recommendations regarding effective alternatives to merit pay are discussed. (MT)

The articles in this monograph focus on issues identified during participation in the U.S. Department of Education 1984 Teacher Incentive Structures Program, and the 1986 Project to Design Teacher Incentive Structures. Emphasis was on designing or adapting incentive structures for possible use in the school, community, or university. The following…

Most states have already implemented policies to recruit, select, and retain better teachers. The majority of these policies raise standards for entry or recertification. Another approach provides incentives to attract qualified college graduates into teaching. Offering scholarships in exchange for five-year teaching commitments and offering…

Focusing on the classroom teacher as the key component in the educational process, this yearbook reviews recent school reform upheavals and their effects on teacher compensation, availability and quality of teachers, teacher retirement systems and related issues. After introductory observations on teachers' economic subsidies by Kern Alexander,…

Current facts concerning the teaching profession should be analyzed and acted upon. Most college students now studying to enter the teaching profession come from the bottom quarter of those taking the college entrance examinations. Schools and Colleges of Education are held in very low esteem on most campuses; therefore, when budgets are cut, they…

In this paper we examine the research literature on teacher performance pay. Evidence clearly suggests an upsurge of interest in many states and school districts; however, expanded use of performance pay has been controversial. We briefly review the history of teacher pay policy in the U.S. and earlier cycles of interest in merit or…