Teacher incentives

As a high school student in a small town, I was unaware of the challenges that the teachers were going through with the low wages they were earning. Given that I have also chosen to pursue a career in teaching, I wanted to investigate the pros and cons of teaching incentives and the different views.

I thought this information could be useful because if teaching incentives are, in fact, a positive effect on the educational systems, then this should be implemented into all schools. As a current student, and for all future students, this affects how we learn and our futures. 

Teaching incentives are monetary rewards to teachers that are already in teaching positions. The theory is that by giving the teachers more money they will be motivated to do better at their jobs and thus the students will be getting a better education. This program is typically used in need-based schools (a school with more than 30 percent of its enrollment from low-income families as defined by ED.gov) where the teaching quality is typically under par.

After researching the different sides of the argument, I came to a conclusion: teacher incentives are effective way to get quality teachers into the classroom and increase the success rate of students at need-based schools.

By providing these incentives, it will recruit more qualified teachers into high-need schools and thus improve the performance of the students. The National Bureau of Economic Research has put this goal to the test and has concluded that students who are taught by teachers with incentives have actually increased their test scores. Not only were the teachers teaching more efficiently, but they were also providing more preparation for exams. 

Teacher incentives also keep the high-quality teachers in the classroom. Since most teachers find it a struggle to strictly live off of their teaching salary, they tend to move into administrative positions to make ends meet. This leaves the under-qualified teachers to educate students, and the effective teachers are no longer directly involved with the students. They have to leave the career they are passionate about, and the students a left without their mentors. The teacher incentive program provides the teacher with security so that they are able to continuing teaching and inspiring students. 

One could argue that the teachers should already be teaching at their best abilities, despite monetary compensation. I believe that the teachers who are doing well in their field should be rewarded for their hard work. Since the teachers are already performing to the best of their abilities, they will try to incorporate different activities into classroom to create a more dynamic learning experience. Since the teacher will be less stressed over monetary issues, he/she will be more focused on the students and will have more confidence.

Other than strictly providing the teacher with a bonus, the teacher incentive program also provides the school money to run professional development activities and evaluation and analysis tools. 

Teacher incentives may not be the only way of acquiring high-quality teachers, but to me it sounds like a good start.

Maricopa resident Brittney Rocha is an alumna of Maricopa High School.

Submitted photo