Teachers Oppose Pay-For-Performance

A bill to stop paying higher salaries to Nevada teachers with advanced degrees and to switch to a pay-for-performance model is raising concerns among many teachers. Governor Brian Sandoval has proposed doing away with advanced degree increases, and establishing a pay scale entirely based on performance.

The measure reflects a growing nationwide movement toward performance pay, and is based on research that shows an advanced degree seldom leads to increased student achievement at the elementary school level, and only sometimes increases it in high school classrooms. But many teachers describe the measure as part of a ploy to replace more expensive teachers with cheaper ones, and say the proposed change discredits the value of lifelong learning.

Nevada’s teacher pay scales, like most, place a premium on higher education. The idea of merit pay — it’s a foreign concept — to the elitist.