Florida Merid Award Program evaluation Term Paper

Florida Merid Award Program evaluation - Term Paper Example Eligibility and requirements of renewal are also very clear. It enhances and promotes improved performance in colleges. The program pressurizes teachers to achieve highly so as they can continuously get their awards (Buddin et al, 2007). The program also motivates teachers. Research indicates that an increase of one percent of salary may increase the performance of a teacher by about two percent. However, providing bonuses for good performance is more effective as compared to automatic pay rise since it can elevate the performance of a teacher to as much as nineteen percent. Merit award program attracts qualified applicants or candidates to the profession of teaching, since incomes vary largely and have a basis on the strength of local teachers unions and local tax revenue. The results received are positive. The program enhances high productivity or increased work quality as result of teachers working harder than expected. If teachers work consistently in strives to acquire merit pay increases, then the cumulative impact for the schools would be healthier than before (PEPC Report, 1999). School boards and superintendents are engaged in debates about the program. Instructional personnel who are part of teaching fraternity but not really teachers, or a group of teachers who tirelessly provide necessary instructions for students are also co-operated in the program. The program provides pay for teams or groups of teachers. The state now awards teachers’ salary on the basis of district’s average instead of individual teacher salary. It puts consideration on a variety of teacher performance measures. A combination of benefits gained by the student and the evaluations of the principal are used to assess the performance of the teacher. It increased the size of the award for teachers with less experience and low income. This was to motivate them to work harder than before. The district experiences a lot of flexibility to identify the section of teachers wh o should be awarded. The program offers enough time for the districts’ analysis of achievement data. For instance, teacher performance awards in the academic 2007-2008 were given as from 1st of July, 2008. This gave the districts enough time to analyze the students the achievement data for students, make a list of teachers to be awarded and distribute the awards. Weaknesses of the program The prospects for the Florida merit award program are not promising regardless of the anticipation through theoretical and empirical reasons that the program would generate positive results students which are to be used to measure teacher performance. Since the implementation of education reforms is done in a political setting, the potential of teacher merit award is not a reality. Whatever gains that may be generated from this program; those gains might not be realized due to the same implementation challenge that results in many other reforms. That is, when a reform in education possesses the theoretical potential for achievement, for that very reason, it will be alleged to be threatening to the established interests. The outcome is the very interests will give their resources, time and energy to diluting or blocking the reform, instead of enhancing its implementation on an extensive and exact basis. If the educational reform fails to deal with the