I agree. When you do a good job, you should be rewarded. As it is now, you get higher pay only for more time on the job. That is not a measure of how effective you are.

Netflix CEO Reid Hastings suggests not paying bonus, but instead paying people at the top end of the market scale for their position (including bonus)... and then hold them accountable to top level performance. The enclosed report argues against bonuses for non-standardized, creative roles. I think some positions in companies where you can easily track performance (like sales for example) can work well with incentivized pay. But jobs with nuanced and complex evaluations (like teachers) are tougher to tie directly to bonuses. Ultimately I believe we should hold schools accountable for performance, but let school leaders decide how best to motivate and unlock talent's full potential.