Education

Incentive Pay: Pass or Fail?

April 04, 2006 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Despite past disappointments, one third of the nation’s school districts are currently poised to implement performance incentive plans for teachers.

In this Education Week Commentary, James W. Guthrie and Matthew G. Springer caution that, without further experimentation and fine-tuning, incentive pay plans will continue to fail. As a result, they argue, the potential positives of such reforms will be forever shadowed by mounting feelings of frustration and a long history of repeated failures.

What do you think? Is this second go-round a wise move, or just another fleeting and ill-advised reform dream? Should more districts establish pay-for-performance programs for teachers? Or would such policy measures likely have little effect on student achievement and teacher performance?

A version of this news article first appeared in the TalkBack blog.

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Artificial Intelligence Webinar
AI in Schools: What 1,000 Districts Reveal About Readiness and Risk
Move beyond “ban vs. embrace” with real-world AI data and practical guidance for a balanced, responsible district policy.
Content provided by Securly
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Recruitment & Retention Webinar
K-12 Lens 2026: What New Staffing Data Reveals About District Operations
Explore national survey findings and hear how districts are navigating staffing changes that affect daily operations, workload, and planning.
Content provided by Frontline Education
Education Funding Webinar Congress Approved Next Year’s Federal School Funding. What’s Next?
Congress passed the budget, but uncertainty remains. Experts explain what districts should expect from federal education policy next.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education Opinion The Opinions EdWeek Readers Care About: The Year’s 10 Most-Read
The opinion content readers visited most in 2025.
2 min read
Collage of the illustrations form the top 4 most read opinion essays of 2025.
Education Week + Getty Images
Education Quiz Did You Follow This Week’s Education News? Take This Quiz
Test your knowledge on the latest news and trends in education.
1 min read
Education Quiz How Did the SNAP Lapse Affect Schools? Take This Weekly Quiz
Test your knowledge on the latest news and trends in education.
1 min read
Education Quiz New Data on School Cellphone Bans: How Much Do You Know?
Test your knowledge on the latest news and trends in education.
1 min read