The Peril and Promise of Performance Pay: Making Education Compensation Work

Gratz (education, Curry College, Massachusetts) tackles one of the thorny issues of contemporary American education reform: performance pay plans for teachers. His text examines the goals, assumptions, and methods that undergird performance plans in light of recent and distant history; lessons learned about human motivation from education and industry; current attitudes towards teacher compensation; the impact of public education on students and society; and the purposes citizens ascribe to their public schools. Gratz offers school teachers, administrators, board members, policy makers, and concerned citizens some guidelines and principles--based on history, analysis, and his own experience--as to what might work and what will not when incorporating teacher compensation into educational reform efforts in the U.S. Annotation c2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Donald B. Gratz is professor, department chair, and graduate director in education at Curry College outside of Boston.