Dive Brief:
- The contract between Newark teachers and the school district has expired, with negotiations to start this fall, and one sticking point has emerged already: the district’s merit pay system.
- The system was launched as part of the massive overhauls led by former schools superintendent Cami Anderson and backed by Mark Zuckerberg’s $100 million donation to the district.
- The contract still holds, though it expired in June, and the union is set to go back to the table with Newark’s new schools chief, Chris Cerf, who has taken a more moderate approach to the intended reforms.
Dive Insight:
The debate over merit pay in Newark is a reflection of a larger dispute over how teachers’ pay and quality should be determined. The changes were originally intended to make teacher pay more like pay in other industries, where employees are rewarded for demonstrated results. But the district’s teacher evaluation has drawn criticism from union and anti-reform advocates. As a result, the merit pay’s value has been called into question. Last year, 233 teachers received an average of $6,000 in bonuses.
"It's more a failure than it is a success," John Abeigon, president of Newark’s teacher union, told the Huffington Post. "In little pockets, it's a success."