The LEARNS Act (Act 237 of the 2023 Regular Session) established the Merit Teacher Incentive Fund Program, also known as Merit Pay, to recognize and reward Arkansas’s outstanding educators. The primary goals of the program are to retain high-performing teachers in classrooms across Arkansas and enhance teacher recruitment and retention in priority (e.g., mentors) and critical shortage areas. Research supports the idea that merit pay can have a positive impact on student outcomes by changing who enters and stays in teaching, and we are following Arkansas’s results closely.
Implemented for the first time last school year, the merit pay program awarded bonuses to nearly 3,000 teachers, with an average bonus of approximately $3,300.
In this blog post, I will give an overview of the program, explain the eligibility criteria and bonus amounts, and provide an overview of the first year’s bonus distribution.
Program Basics
The LEARNS Act mandates that the Merit Teacher Incentive Fund Program provide annual bonuses of up to $10,000 across multiple categories. The legislature set aside $10 million for the program. The broad eligibility categories include those who:
- Demonstrate outstanding growth in student performance;
- Teach in subject, geographic, and other critical shortage areas; and
- Serve as a mentor to aspiring teachers participating in yearlong residencies.
The Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) has produced helpful materials explaining who was eligible and the criteria for bonus qualification. You can find those materials linked in this ADE Commissioner’s memo.
Minimum Requirements
All K-12 classroom teachers, special education teachers, library media specialists, and school counselors were eligible for merit pay. To qualify in any category, educators had to meet the following minimum requirements:
- Hold a current Arkansas license;
- Be one of the following:
- A classroom teacher who works directly with students for at least 70% of their contracted time (validated by districts),
- A library media specialist, or
- A school counselor;
- Demonstrate positive student growth through one of the following:
- For those with student growth scores (i.e., who teach in tested grades and subjects):
- Have a three-year average student growth score of 80 or above and
- An annual rating of “effective” or higher in the Educator Effectiveness System.
- For those without student growth scores:
- Have an annual rating of “highly effective” in the Educator Effectiveness System.
- For those with student growth scores (i.e., who teach in tested grades and subjects):
Merit Pay Categories and Eligibility Criteria
As mentioned earlier, the Merit Pay program encompasses three broad categories. In addition to meeting the minimum requirements, educators had to satisfy specific eligibility criteria within each category to qualify for a bonus. The following sections outline the detailed criteria and the corresponding bonus amounts within each category for the first year of implementation. Criteria and amounts may be adjusted annually.
Demonstrate outstanding growth in student performance.
Eligibility for this category is based on teachers’ average student growth scores, which measure the academic progress of their students from one year to the next compared to peers with similar starting points. Because students’ growth is compared to peers with similar prior achievement, all students can demonstrate growth regardless of whether they are high or low achieving at the start of the school year.
If a teacher’s students demonstrated more growth than other students in the state with comparable prior performance, the teacher will have an average student growth score above 80. Our next post will dive deeper into student growth scores, so stay tuned!
The student growth category offered four bonus levels, with teachers receiving only the highest level for which they qualified. Each level was determined by the teacher’s three-year average student growth score, which prioritizes bonuses for educators who have consistently delivered exceptional student performance growth. To be eligible, teachers needed student growth scores for all three of the previous school years (i.e., 2020-21, 2021-22, and 2022-23).
The first three bonus levels in this category use teachers’ average student growth scores across subjects. If anytime in the previous three years an educator taught any combination of English language arts (ELA), math, and science, their student growth scores were averaged across those subjects for these criteria.
Teachers with the highest 3-year average student growth scores across subjects received the following bonuses:
- Top 0.5% – $10,000
- Top 1% – $9,000
- Top 5% – $6,000
Teachers also qualified for a $3,000 bonus if their subject-specific (i.e., ELA, math, or science) 3-year average growth score was in the top 25% for that subject.
Teach in critical shortage areas.
Each year, the ADE Division or Elementary and Secondary Education produces a list of subjects, geographic areas, and other designations that are experiencing a critical educator shortage. For the 2023-24 school year, that list included the following:
- Subject Shortage Areas:
- Computer Science
- Foreign Language
- Secondary Math
- Secondary Science
- Special Education
- Geographic Shortage Areas:
- Arkansas River ESC
- Great Rivers ESC
- Pulaski Co. Schools
- Southeast ESC
- Southwest ESC
- Districts identified as geographic shortage areas
- Lead or Master Professional Educator licensure designation:
- Mentors of yearlong residents are encouraged to have this designation, and the state needs approximately 2,000 mentors by 2027
- Students not meeting math/reading standards can be placed with a teacher with a Master Professional Educator designation
Educators who met the minimum merit pay requirements and work in one of the areas experiencing a critical shortage were eligible for the following bonuses:
- Subject Shortage Area – $2,500
- Geographic Shortage Area – $1,500
- Lead or Master Professional Educator licensure designation – $1,500
Serve as a mentor to aspiring teachers participating in yearlong residencies.
The LEARNS Act mandated that by 2027 all aspiring teachers in Arkansas educator preparation programs complete a one-year residency with a mentor, creating a need for additional mentor teachers (approximately 2,000).
Teachers who met the minimum merit pay requirements and served as a mentor for a yearlong resident were eligible for a $3,000 bonus if they:
- Had a minimum of three years of teaching experience;
- Held a Lead or Master Professional Educator licensure designation; and
- Completed ADE recognized coaching training.
Merit Pay Criteria and Amounts Overview
The table below provides a summary for all the merit pay categories, specific criteria, and associated bonus amounts.
| Criteria | Bonus |
| Demonstrate outstanding growth in student performance. | |
| Top 0.5% 3-Year Average Student Growth Score Across Subjects | $10,000 |
| Top 1% 3-Year Average Student Growth Score Across Subjects | $9,000 |
| Top 5% 3-Year Average Student Growth Score Across Subjects | $6,000 |
| Top 25% 3-Year Average Student Growth Score in ELA, Math, or Science | $3,000 |
| Teach in subject, geographic, and other shortage areas. | |
| Subject Shortage Area | $2,500 |
| Geographic Shortage Area | $1,500 |
| Lead or Master Designation Shortage Area | $1,500 |
| Serve as a mentor to aspiring teachers participating in yearlong residencies. | |
| Mentor for a Yearlong Resident | $3,000 |
While educators could only receive one bonus for outstanding student growth, all the other bonus categories could be stacked. For example, Ms. Ozark, shown in the figure below, teaches secondary math in a geographic shortage area and is in the top 25% for 3-year average student growth in math, qualifying her for a $7,000 bonus. Many educators qualified for and received bonuses in multiple categories. The figure below shows several other real examples.
Program Outcomes
As mentioned earlier, the primary goals of the Merit Teacher Incentive Fund Program are to retain high-performing teachers in classrooms across Arkansas and to improve teacher recruitment and retention in critical priority (e.g., mentors) and shortage areas. The eligibility criteria outlined in previous sections were specifically designed to align with and support these recruitment and retention objectives.
However, it’s crucial to assess the actual outcomes of the program to determine if it is meeting these goals. By analyzing who received bonuses in the program’s first year, we can get a first look at how the program is working. Future work will evaluate the recruitment and retention effects of the program to ensure the program continues to support Arkansas’s long-term teacher workforce goals.
Who received bonuses in the first year of the merit teacher incentive fund program?
Nearly 3,000 educators received bonuses in the first year of the program, representing almost 10% of the teacher workforce. Over 500 educators received a bonus of $5,000 or more and 46 teachers received the maximum bonus of $10,000, many of them by stacking bonuses from different categories.
Bonus recipients were widely distributed across the state, with high concentrations in geographic shortage areas. You can use the interactive map below to explore the district-level results.
District Size
Our analysis of district size among merit pay recipients confirms that these teachers were widely distributed across districts (see graph below). Notably, half of the 2024 merit pay recipients worked in districts with fewer than 3,886 students, which includes many of Arkansas’s small and rural districts. This widespread distribution highlights the program’s reach and impact, demonstrating that high-performing teachers from a variety of district sizes, including those in smaller and rural communities, were recognized and rewarded.
2024 Merit Pay Teachers’ District Size
Subjects and Educator Categories
Merit pay recipients were also well-represented across a variety of subjects and educator categories (see table below). For instance, 12% of merit pay recipients were special education teachers, 7% were K-2 teachers, and nearly 5% were counselors or library media specialists. This broad distribution underscores that the merit pay program recognizes excellence in a wide range of teaching roles, not just teachers in tested subjects and grades.
This table highlights the diversity of merit pay recipients, with a substantial number coming from core academic areas as well as specialized fields like special education, physical education, and fine arts. This diverse representation reinforces the program’s commitment to recognizing excellence across all areas of education.
| Subject | Teachers Receiving a Bonus |
Percentage of Merit Pay Recipients |
| Middle School (5-8) | 901 | 31% |
| Secondary (9-12) | 788 | 27% |
| Elementary (3-4) | 604 | 21% |
| Special Education | 352 | 12% |
| Physical Education and Health | 276 | 9% |
| Elementary (K-2) | 201 | 7% |
| Career & Technical | 119 | 4% |
| Fine Arts | 96 | 3% |
| Computer Science | 91 | 3% |
| Counselor | 72 | 2% |
| Other | 65 | 2% |
| Library Media Specialist | 49 | 2% |
| Foreign Language | 39 | 1% |
Educator Experience
The Merit Pay program rewarded educators with varying levels of experience, though a significant proportion were veteran teachers. The median experience among merit pay recipients was 14 years, meaning half had more than 14 years of experience. Only 96 recipients had fewer than 3 years of experience (i.e., were novice teachers in their first, second, or third year of teaching). While the program didn’t specifically target veteran teachers, the data indicates that experienced educators made up a majority of the recipients.
2024 Merit Pay Teachers’ Experience Distribution
The Merit Teacher Incentive Fund Program is a promising approach to help achieve Arkansas’s educator workforce goals.
The first year of the Merit Teacher Incentive Fund Program demonstrated significant potential in achieving its primary goals of retaining high-performing teachers and improving recruitment in key priority areas. With nearly 3,000 teachers receiving bonuses, including over 500 educators who received $5,000 or more, the program distributed bonuses that are likely to impact teachers’ employment decisions.
The broad distribution of bonus recipients across districts of all sizes, especially in small and rural areas, highlights the program’s reach and its ability to recognize educators beyond urban and larger districts. Moreover, the fact that recipients span various subjects and educator categories, underscores the program’s commitment to rewarding excellence across all teaching roles, not just tested grades and subjects.
While the program has successfully identified and rewarded outstanding educators in its first year, it will be important to continue monitoring its long-term effects on teacher retention and recruitment, particularly in critical shortage areas. The next steps involve a deeper analysis of these outcomes to ensure the program continues to align with Arkansas’s educational goals and strengthens the state’s teaching workforce in the years to come. Stay tuned for our next post digging into the details on the student growth category of merit pay.