Dale Ballou, associate professor of public policy and education at Vanderbilt University, who reviewed the study for the National Center on Education Policy, said it's important not to give too much weight to any one piece of research.
that students of middle school math teachers who were offered a bonus pay if they made larger gains on standardized tests performed no better than those without the extra compensation. Dale Ballou, an associate professor who worked on the study, said overall, the studies on merit pay have been mixed.