Teachers' and Administrators' Thoughts on Changes in Reading Instruction within a Merit Pay Program Based on Test Scores

Abstract

THE STUDY describes teachers' and administrators' thoughts concerning reading and reading instruction within the context of a reading program which combines merit pay and other business practices to increase students' standardized test scores. Questionnaires, interviews, observation, and district publications were used to investigate two theoretical consequences of such programs: that school personnel would constrict their definitions of reading and reading instruction to those prescribed by district policy, and that teachers would consider reading instruction less fulfilling than they did prior to the merit pay program. Results supported these predictions and suggest that attempts to change teacher behavior from current practice may meet with failure.