Education

Schools Increasingly Consider Rewarding Teachers for Results, Not Seniority

Merit-based pay for teachers improves student performance and retains good teachers, school leaders say.
Schools Increasingly Consider Rewarding Teachers for Results, Not Seniority
An instructor teaches a Spanish lesson at Franklin High School in Los Angeles on May 25, 2017. Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images
Aaron Gifford
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In several states and hundreds of local school districts, traditional teacher salary structures based on years of service are being replaced by merit and pay-for-performance models.

The success of the Dallas Independent School District’s ACE (Accelerating Campus Excellence) program, implemented in 2016 and credited with improvements in math and reading scores, prompted many districts and state education departments to revise teacher pay due to stagnant or declining academic achievement and high teacher turnover, according to state officials.

Aaron Gifford
Aaron Gifford
Author
Aaron Gifford has written for several daily newspapers, magazines, and specialty publications and also served as a federal background investigator and Medicare fraud analyst. He graduated from the University at Buffalo and is based in Upstate New York.