Just Rewards: Texas Boosts Bonuses for its Teachers

In the wake of falling test scores, states are looking at pay- incentive plans to encourage teachers to push their students toward higher academic performance. This May, the Texas legislature went a step further and created the largest teacher incentive plan in the nation. Teachers who raise test scores are eligible to receive bonuses that can range from $3,000 to $10,000.

The plan will have two stages. During the 2006-07 school year, $100 million will go to teachers who help raise test scores and meet other objective criteria at lower-income schools. In the 2007-08 school year, $261 million will be distributed to school districts that design their own incentive plans.

The program follows on the heels of a pilot program last year that used a $10 million federal grant to give bonuses to teachers at low- income, high-achieving schools.

Opponents of the $361 million plan argue that there is no data that shows that incentive programs work anywhere. "We haven't done any type of confirmation that any of the smaller programs produced better student achievement," says Rene Lara, a legislative liaison with the Texas Federation of Teachers. California dropped its plan a few years ago amid concerns that educators were helping students cheat in order to raise their test scores.

Opponents also point to results from Texas' pilot program. An independent contractor was hired to look for irregularities in testing scores, and 609 schools, some of which were set to receive bonuses, were found to have some sort of abnormality.