The Good, Bad and Empty of Cash Incentives.

Most people see performance awards as good for teachers and administrators and beneficial to schools, but unintended negative consequences often come with offering monetary awards to a few educators. In 11 years of teaching at two high schools, I saw my share of what happened to the esprit de corps of teachers who received awards and those who did not.

I changed schools midway through an 11-year high school teaching career. The environment I left was led by an administration that placed a premium on awards and recognition for exemplary teaching. The school I joined was led by a principal who felt that "no one here is more excellent than anyone else."

Cash awards--mostly from local, regional and national businesses or industries--are a recent and popular phenomena on the educational landscape. While they certainly must be altering the terrain, precious little research exists to support the practice.

I studied the effects of monetary awards on science teachers for my dissertation research. Hundreds of interviews and questionnaires completed by cash-award winners and by randomly selected science teachers who had not won any awards revealed that awards for outstanding teachers can bring some good effects, some bad effects and sometimes just plain empty impressions.

Positive Reinforcement 

Science teachers in the United States who have won competitive cash awards of $1,000 to $25,000 attest to all sorts of benefits. Most say they are more likely to teach until retirement thanks to being recognized in this way. One award winner responded in her survey: "[Winning the award] was a boost to my self-esteem. Instead of feeling burnt out, it provided me a much-needed motivation. It was great to know that you are doing something right."

Award-winning teachers report that because they won an award, they are more inclined to collaborate with teachers to develop lessons or conduct research and present at meetings. They also report a welcomed perception of greater respect from parents of students and from their colleagues. Award-winning teachers felt their programs received increased facilitation by school administrators because, as one teacher put it, "I'm now more credible and therefore more free to take risks."

Award-winning teachers also believe the status of the teaching profession is generally enhanced by the publicity associated with winning an award for teaching. One representative teacher encapsulated this perception: "It has highlighted teaching practices which are successful and provided the public with the good news in education helping to offset much negative media coverage education usually gets."

It isn't surprising that awarding teachers bestows many benefits upon recipients. Certainly these benefits remain an important consideration when it comes to keeping good teachers satisfied. But what about teachers who never have received an award? Does the mere existence of cash awards inspire the masses of educators to improve?

My research indicates that the majority of teachers from a random national sample reported they would be honored to be nominated for an award, though they doubt their odds on winning. Their self-doubt was not an admission that they are less-than-exemplary teachers. Almost all of these teachers perceived of themselves as "good" or "excellent" educators. They're just unsure whether the award application can identify exemplars.

Several reasons for this view surfaced in the study, including perceptions held by teachers who have not been recognized that (1) written applications do not reveal teaching excellence; (2) the criteria for judging winners is unclear and faddish; and (3) judges for awards may not recognize good teaching.

Like their award-winning peers, though, this pool of teachers also believes awards elevate their profession in the eyes of the public, and they too believe that award winners are particularly valued by school administrators.

III Effects

Teachers who have won national cash awards for their teaching find few faults with the idea. Only a few responded that the award actually can mean more work through the creation of "far more commitments outside the classroom" or "more classroom interruptions as the principal brings people in to meet me."

The single negative issue upon which virtually all the award winners agreed was over the effects of the award on their relationships with colleagues. Some teachers perceived a mixture of resentment and support at winning an award. Said one: "There has been some professional jealousy from teachers who do not realize how hard I work. Those who really know me are supportive and understanding." A few teachers simply felt ostracized for "being a bit weird [and] not one of them." Despite universal encounters with jealous colleagues, award-winning teachers agreed the benefits of recognition far outweighed the drawbacks.

Interestingly, randomly selected teachers who never have been recognized with cash awards held completely different views of their effects. Most of these teachers perceived the existence of awards as negligibly motivating and a nonfactor in attracting or retaining teachers. Most did not believe that increasing the dollar value of awards would improve their incentive value either. They typically couched their response as a matter of poor odds. "Winning one of these awards would be like making the N.B.A.," one teacher reported.

Some teachers were right up front in sharing their suspicions that awards are not going to the most conscientious educators. Said one: "If national cash awards require a teacher to actively seek such, I don't think you will really be finding the best teachers. ... The best teachers will be unwilling to take time away from what really matters to seek recognition." Teachers frequently commented on the amount of paperwork as a disincentive.

Empty Feelings

Many award programs profess an intent to inspire better teaching. For example, the Milken Foundation's National Educator Award proclaims: "... the most effective way to address the crisis in American education is to respond to educators' professional interests, enhance their resources and reward their achievements, thus elevating the profession and encouraging talented young people to become educators." Tandy Corp.'s Tandy Scholars program seeks to use awards to "promote and encourage educational excellence in schools across America."

Yet according to the reported perceptions of teachers who have won these awards as well as the views of those who never have won them, awards are not changing anyone's teaching. None of the award winners attributed changes in practice to the garnering of an award. One teacher's comment, when asked about changed practices, sums up the prevailing attitude: "No real change, awards are given for the way you already do things." No incentive to change practice exists among teachers who have not been recognized with an award because the payoff is perceived to be simply too remote.

The true effects of awards on recipients appear to be more closely linked to intrinsic benefits than any external manifestation. One award winner said it well: "Cash awards merely enable a teacher to earn some recognition for a job well done that would have been done regardless. Cash awards do not motivate me to be a better teacher. They merely motivate me to take the time to fill out the paperwork!"

What value extrinsic rewards bring, according to many award winners, is the production of more meaningful intrinsic reward opportunities; the chance to provide more input toward the operation of the school; the opportunity to network with other exemplars; and the chance to try new ideas.

Energized Atmosphere

At their best, awards for teachers bring a variety of manifestations that can enhance the school environment. For example, they convey the all-important appreciation that teachers from both cohorts claim as their prime motivation, they foster collaboration and innovation on the part of newly empowered recipients, and they bring increased respect and support from parents and the community.

At their worst, awards for teachers have a negative impact on the school environment. Teachers who fail to garner recognition despite self-perceptions of excellence begin to suspect the award and anyone involved with winning, nominating or administering it. Awards can disrupt the fabric of equality that typifies most school faculties by honoring (with perceived capriciousness) some and not others, And awards may, according to motivational theorist Frederick Herzberg and education writer Alfie Kohn, diminish the intrinsic motivation that drives many teachers to be their best.

The school in which I began my career, where administrators pushed and promoted awards, and where the faculty were the most vibrant and innovative collection of professionals I've known to exist in a single school, dodged the pitfalls that can accompany teacher recognition by providing opportunities for all teachers to win awards. Postings of award brochures and competitions were ubiquitous in the lounge, the halls and even the restrooms.

Administrators facilitated the nomination process by corralling secretarial aid in compiling application packets. Past winners were encouraged to conduct workshops and demonstrations on award-winning pedagogy. We all had the feeling that we too could win one of those things, and we valued the outcome-recognition for a job well done. The school to which I moved could have benefited by an energized atmosphere of awards for teacher excellence.

Jeff Weld is an assistant professor of science education at Oklahoma State University, 239 Willard Hall, Stillwater, Okla. 74078.