Experiential teacher pay for performance programs

By Globe Staff

One of the greatest challenges facing young people and especially those most at risk of engaging in violent behavior is the substandard quality of education they receive from their schools. And one of the major obstacles to improving education is the extremely low wages teachers earn, causing many highly capable educators to choose other career paths. Then there is also the challenge of how difficult it is to fire bad teachers, who are tenured members of a teachers union.

There is a new innovative proposal in Washington, D.C., and a three-year-old initiative in Denver that seeks to address these challenges. While neither could be considered successful yet, the fresh, innovative ideas are inspiring.

In Washington, D.C., the new, energetic chancellor of the school district, who was specifically hired to reform a devastated school system, has proposed a new program that would compensate effective teachers up to more than $100,000, but also make it easier to dismiss poor performing teachers.

The new D.C. chancellor, Michelle Rhee, has maintained that recruiting in and retaining higher quality teachers is essential to any overhaul of schools. Currently, all teachers gain tenure and certain protections against sudden dismissal after two years of service.

Under Rhee’s new plan, there are two options for teachers. The “red” option allows teachers to retain tenure rights in exchange for a 28 percent raise over five years.

Under the “green” option, the annual salary and bonuses for a teacher with five years of experience could go from $46,500 to as much as $101,000 by 2010. Pay for a teacher with 10 years of service could jump from $56,200 to as much as $122,500.

Teacher performance would be evaluated using a series of criteria, probably including improved student performance on standardized tests. But in exchange for a pay schedule that would make D.C. teachers among the best paid public school instructors in the country, they would have to spend a year on probation, exposing them to the possibility of being fired. D.C. has secured millions in foundation grants to pay for the new program.

The D.C. plan is inspired by a similar initiative in Denver, where Rhee formerly led a nonprofit organization that trains teachers. Denver’s ProComp program is a groundbreaking compensation system that links teacher pay to the school district’s instructional mission.

Denver voters approved $25 million in new property taxes to implement the system, which rewards teachers for student growth on test scores, service in high-risk schools and other factors. About half of Denver’s teachers opted into ProComp, and new teachers are automatically assigned.

ProComp is a nine-year bargained agreement between the Denver Classroom Teachers Association and Denver Public Schools that is designed to link teacher compensation more directly with the mission and goals of the school system.

ProComp has four components that allow teachers to build earnings: Knowledge and skills, where teachers earn compensation for acquiring and demonstrating knowledge and skills by completing annual professional development units or earning additional graduate degrees and national certificates; professional evaluation, where teachers are recognized for their classroom skill by receiving salary increases every three years for satisfactory evaluations; student growth, when teachers are rewarded for the academic growth of their students; and market incentives, where teachers receive bonuses for teaching in hard to serve schools.

Originally published Aug. 13-19, 2008