An analysis of selected current merit pay plans in public elementary and secondary education in Illinois and Iowa
Abstract
This study was initiated to investigate the status of current merit pay plans in public elementary and secondary education. A categorization system and a set of decision rules were developed, from a review of the literature, for use in the analysis of submitted documents. School districts included in the study were from the states of Illinois and Iowa. Although 58 school districts were originally identified as having performance based pay or merit pay plans the actual analysis included documents from 26 districts. Superintendents of approximately one half of the Illinois districts, whose plans were coded as having merit pay, stated that in reality their plans were not merit pay. One of the districts did not have a written document. Results were analyzed and organized by research question for each state. Current merit pay plans are of two basic types; more pay and combination plans. It was quite apparent that research on merit pay was a part of the development phase of current merit pay plans. A large number of plans included various success criteria, however, none of the plans utilized all of them. Flaw factors continue to exist as part of current plans. Districts appeared to have a tendency to offer a variety of ways in which superior performance could be determined and rewarded.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Wood, Purdue University.
Subject Area
School administration|School finance
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