The New York City Department of Education today abandoned a three year teacher performance bonus program that cost $56 million. The New York Times reports:

The decision was made in light of a study that found the bonuses had no positive effect on either student performance or teachers’ attitudes toward their jobs.

The study’s authors said:

Teachers also reported that improving as teachers and seeing their students learn were bigger motivators than a bonus…

Here’s one more excerpt from the article:

The results add to a growing body of evidence nationally that so-called pay-for-performance bonuses for teachers that consist only of financial incentives have no effect on student achievement, the researchers wrote.

Bob Sutton has written a post about the study, titled New York City Halts Teacher Bonus Program: Another Blow to Evidence-Resistant Ideology that is a must-read, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has published a column on it, too.

I’m add these resources to The Best Resources For Learning Why Teacher Merit Pay Is A Bad Idea.