We talked about the merits of giving incentive bonuses to teachers. I said at that time, the problem with incentive bonuses for educators is that they inevitably lead to cutting corners and massaging the numbers to ensure they "earn" those bonuses. The bonuses become the focus, not educating. Sometimes it's not even cutting corners though, but rather mass, systemic cheating to get those bonuses. The Superintendent of the Atlanta area public schools earned around 500k in bonuses by cheating on test scores. She had the people administering the test, the teachers, the entire system really, in on it with her for years. If you think this is the only example, I've got a bridge I'd like to sell you.
Atlanta educators convicted of cheating
Atlanta educators convicted of cheating
