Teacher Merit Pay In A Rural Western North Carolina County: A Quantitative Analysis Of The Effects Of Student Characteristics On A Teacher’s Likelihood Of Receiving A Monetary Bonus In Math Or Reading In Grades Three - Eight

This quantitative work is an exploratory study examining the North Carolina bonus pay structure enacted in 2016-2017 for math and reading teachers in grades three through eight. The study used student data from a rural western North Carolina county from the 2017-2018 academic year. It analyzed the validity of the EVAAS tool used in North Carolina to identify the top 25% of teachers in the affected grade levels and subject areas. The study examined student characteristics to find correlations between teachers receiving the merit-based bonus and the composition of students in her classroom. The study identified that white, mixed-race and Asian students have a greater likelihood of sitting in a teacher’s classroom that received the reading bonus. Students with disabilities had a negative correlation to a teacher’s likelihood of receiving the reading bonus in grades three - five. In math, the study found a negative correlation between teachers receiving the bonus and students with disabilities and students identified as gifted learners. There was a positive correlation between math teacher bonuses and mixed-race, Hispanic and African-American students. The study might be used to help inform student classroom assignment practices in North Carolina.