Merit pay unfair and divisive

THE VAST majority of teachers oppose paying teachers at different rates based on student test scores because such merit pay systems are inequitable, ineffective, and divisive. That is why we oppose a new grant program, which the Globe supports, under which selected AP teachers receive bonuses of $100 for every student who achieves a certain score. A teacher who helps a struggling student improve from a "D" to a "B" is just as meritorious as a teacher whose motivated students pass an AP exam. By singling out which teachers get the bonus, this program undermines teamwork. Researchers have consistently found that merit pay doesn't help students. As renowned education researchers Vivian Troen and Katherine Boles wrote in a Globe op-ed piece in 2005, "Merit pay comes in many forms and flavors. None of them, past and present, has ever had a successful track record." Our request that the bonus money be spent on scholarships for students or to buy needed school supplies was flatly rejected. It appears that the sponsors are more interested in instituting a test-score-based pay system for teachers than in directly helping students.
ANNE WASS, Marshfield
The writer is president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association.