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There’s no merit in merit pay plans for rewarding, retaining SC teachers

Paul L. Thomas, Department of Education.

Last updated February 12, 2023

By Tina Underwood

Furman University’s Paul Thomas, a professor of education, writes an opinion piece in The Post and Courier about merit pay and why it fails education, teachers and students. He notes that two competing facts are in play: “Teacher pay is important to address and long overdue in the state, but merit pay is an ineffective and even harmful approach to addressing pay and teacher shortages.” After explaining the downside of merit pay, Thomas writes, “South Carolina’s greatest need is for elected officials to directly address poverty: access to health care, stable jobs with strong pay and access to affordable housing.”

Thomas lays out in-school reforms necessary to help remedy teacher shortages and other woes. The longstanding problem in South Carolina is this, he says: “High-poverty students struggle to achieve well enough or fast enough compared to their more affluent peers. Those children deserve new solutions, and merit pay is a tired gimmick that will fail children and teachers once again.”

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