Skip to main content
Log in

Merit pay: A case study in a California school district

  • Published:
Instructional Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper is a report on a study which examined the possibility of instituting a merit pay plan in a small school district in California. The paper is a preliminary investigation aimed at focusing attention on the substantive issues of merit pay and their effect on instructional performance. The first part of this paper summarizes merit pay in business and industry, merit pay in education, merit pay plans in California schools, and characteristics of the district under study. In the second part, practical difficulties in the district under study are described and analyzed. The third part constitutes the enumeration and examination of conditions which are required for the development and implementation of a merit pay plan in the district. Due to the difficulties in accumulating raw data, decisions on methodologies were made during the process of data collection. These methodologies are described throughout the paper.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alkin, M. C. (1972). “Accountability Defined”, Evaluation Comment. 3.3, pp. 1–5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beisel, J. J. (1972). “Recognition of Professional Preparation”, Personnel Journal. 51.2, pp. 134–137.

    Google Scholar 

  • BrowderJr., L. H., ed., (1973). Emerging Patterns of Administrative Accountability. Berkeley, California: McCutchan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruno, J. E. (1971). “Compensation of School District Personnel”, Management Science, p. 4328.

  • California Legislature (1971). “Article 5.5: Evaluation and Assessment of Performance of Certificated Personnel”, in Assembly Bill No. 293, Chapter 361.

  • Coleman, J. S. (1971). “New Incentives for Schools”, in J. W., Guthrie, and E., Wynne, eds., New Models for American Education. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coombs, P. H., and Hallak, J. (1972). Managing Educational Costs. New York: Oxford University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Evans, W. A. (1970). “Pay for Performance: Fact or Fable”, Personnel Journal. 49.9, pp. 726–731.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frey, P. W. (1973). “Comparative Judgment Scaling of Student Course Ratings”, American Educational Research Journal. 10.2, pp. 149–154.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glasman, N. S. (1972). “A Study of Merit Pay: Report to the Hope School District Board of Trustees”, Santa Barbara, California, 146 pp.

  • Glass, G. V. (1972). “Statistical and Measurement Problems in Implementing the Stull Act”, paper delivered at the Conference on the Stull Act, Stanford University, October 12, 1972.

  • Greene, R. J. (1972). “Appraising the Performance of the Data Processing Employee”, Personnel Journal. 51.10, pp. 757–761.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haar, T. A. V. (1972). “Performance Standards for Managers”, Personnel Journal. 51.1, pp. 27–41.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heier, W. D. (1970). “Implementing an Appraisal by Results Program”, Personnel. 47.6, pp. 24–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • James, H. T. (1972). “Some Thoughts on Accountability”, The School Administrator. 8, pp. 7–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klein, S. P., and Alkin, M. C. (1972). “Evaluating Teachers for Outcome Accountability”, Evaluation Comment. 3.3, pp. 5–11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kleinman, J. (1963). “Merit Pay—The Big Question”, NEA Journal. 52, pp. 42–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krasno, R. M. (1972). “Accountability and Research on Teacher Effectiveness”, Administrator's Notebook, 21.1, pp. 1–4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marshall, T. H. (1939). “The Recent History of Professionalism in Relation to Social Structure and Social Policy”, Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science. 5, p. 325.

  • Patterson, W. N. (1969). “Teacher-Ranking: A Step Toward Professionalism”, The Educational Forum. 33.2, pp. 169–173.

    Google Scholar 

  • Redling, E. T. (1972). “The Determinants of Management Compensation”, Personnel Journal. 51.8, pp. 557–564.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, D. W., ed., (1970). “Eight Articles on Accountability”, Phi Delta Kappan. 52.4.

  • Sciara, F. J., and Jantz, R. K., eds., (1972). Accountability in American Education. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, J. V. (1972). “Merit Compensation: The Ideal and the Reality”, Personnel Journal. 51.5, pp. 313–326.

    Google Scholar 

  • Templeton, I. (1972). “Merit Pay”, Educational Management Review Series. 10, 9 pp.

  • Tolor, A. (1973). “Evaluation of Perceived Teacher Effectiveness”, Journal of Educational Psychology. 64.1, pp. 98–104.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weissman, R. (1969). “Merit Pay — What Merit?” Education Digest. 34.9, pp. 16–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zimmerer, T. (1970). “The Promotion Illusion, and Investigation of the Promotability of Executives Based on an Analysis of Both Self Ratings and Superior Ratings”, Management of Personnel Quarterly. 9.4, pp. 8–16.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Glasman, N.S. Merit pay: A case study in a California school district. Instr Sci 3, 89–110 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00117028

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00117028

Keywords

Navigation