With the idea of merit pay for teachers looming locally, it’s time to consider its value.

For years, merit pay has been tried, not just in education, but in other fields as well. Research found that there are times when it has had some success and times when it hasn’t.

In regard to education, this is not the first time merit pay has reared its ugly head.

Merit pay has gained popularity lately with President Barack Obama’s administration. It seems to be the natural assumption that if incentive pay is offered to teachers, they will work harder and test scores will rise.

Many of these incentive plans are tying student test scores to them. One of the major issues with that is that tests have become the top priority in our nation’s education plan.

Since the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, America’s children have been tested ad nauseam.

While tests can give teachers a small measure of how well their students are doing, tests do not tell the whole story. The standardized tests measure things such as isolated skills and facts; they are not capable of measuring how creative a child is or able to assess a student’s ability to use higher-order thinking skills.

Much of the recent news blames teachers for lack of student success. Questions about how hard teachers work and whether they should be offered incentive-based pay if they aren’t working hard enough have been asked by many.

While teachers do play an integral part in their students’ lives, there are certainly other factors worth considering. Parental involvement, socio-economic status and student investment all play into how well students will fare in a school setting, especially in the realm of raising test scores.

As a teacher, I believe that my colleagues work very hard. In fact, I believe most teachers in the entire country put more than enough time and effort into their collective practice. They are passionate about what they do. That passion drives teachers to help their students be as successful as they can.

After 10 years of this latest “reform” movement, there is not a shred of evidence that shows that an increase in testing and accountability works. Schools have been shut down, teachers have been fired, and students are paying the price.

Some desperate teachers and administrators across the nation have been “gaming the system” in order to show that there has been an improvement in test scores. They have, in essence, helped students by giving or changing answers, or not prepping students in the fall to show growth in the spring.

And now, merit pay enters the picture.

If cheating were a problem already, one would expect it to get worse if teachers are striving toward attaining the proverbial carrot.

So, does merit pay for teachers work?

When one school system attempted to offer a $15,000 bonus to improve test scores, results showed that there was no change in how the students performed.

Researchers, such as bestselling author Daniel Pink, have delved into the concept of motivation. Over and over again they have found that, for simple mechanized tasks, incentives can work well. Amazingly, this same research has shown that when people were told they would receive compensation, they actually did worse on the task. Rewards or incentives narrow a person’s focus and make the task about money rather than enjoyment.

For teachers such as myself, the enjoyment is in the task. And the important task of teaching our posterity calls for passion, hard work, mastery and purpose, not financial incentives for raising test scores.

If the issue of money were taken off the table and teachers were paid what they are worth, there would be no need for merit pay.

We live in an ever-changing world where more and more innovation is needed. Our students need to be innovative thinkers and teachers need to be allowed to teach with innovation.

Raising test scores and paying teachers to do so not only strips away innovation but also narrows teacher and student focus on a simple mechanized task.

Instead of hammering away at an age-old belief, those in power simply need to look at scientific research.

Matthew Weber is a sixth-grade teacher at Farwell School in Lewiston. He lives in Auburn.