Volume 5, Number 12
December 2011/January 2012

What’s New?

New Online Resource Texas State-Level Pay-for-Performance Programs: Overview and Discussion The Center for Educator Compensation Reform (CECR) recently updated the Texas case summary Texas State-Level Pay-for-Performance Programs to reflect programmatic changes in the state. Since 2005, Texas has implemented three performance-based compensation programs: the Governor’s Educator Excellence Grant (GEEG), the Texas Educator Excellence Grant (TEEG), and the District Awards for Teacher Excellence (DATE). Of these programs, only DATE is currently active. The case summary describes the three programs and includes information regarding programmatic details (including award amounts) and any research conducted on the impact of the program. Although the GEEG and TEEG programs are no longer active, lessons learned from their implementation influenced the structure of the DATE program. DATE allocates $200 million in funding for up to 200 districts to design and implement their own performance-based compensation programs. Under the program guidelines, districts award incentives to teachers based on student achievement or growth, as well as for taking on the role of mentor, participating in professional development opportunities, and taking on additional responsibilities as determined by the districts. The National Center on Performance Incentives conducted evaluations of the DATE program and found some promising data regarding improvements in student achievement and teacher retention. The case summary also identifies several lessons learned from implementation of the three programs: · Performance-pay plans must be adequately funded. · Flexibility of program requirements can help districts succeed. · Programs are only as effective as the data systems on which they rely. · Teachers need to believe in the system in order for performance-pay programs to work. · It is important to learn from previous attempts. The updated case summary is available online at http://cecr.ed.gov/pdfs/summaries/CECR _CS_TX.pdf.

Teacher Incentive Fund Community of Practice CECR established a community of practice for Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) grantees, available online at http://www.tifcommunity.org. Within this community of practice, TIF grantees are able to join online groups in which they can interact with other TIF grantees to discuss their experiences related to implementing their programs. Grantees have the opportunity to share challenges, lessons learned, and best practices aligned with the six CECR themes for implementing performance-based compensation: · Communication and stakeholder engagement § Establishment of a compensation committee § Establishment of feedback loops § External communication · Data quality and data systems § Integration of multiple systems § Appropriate data linkages · Program evaluation § Formative evaluation · Strategies to support workforce § Principal evaluation § Teacher evaluation · Sustainability § Fiscal sustainability § Programmatic sustainability · Value-added and other measures § Student learning objectives § Threats to validity What's New? Hot Off the Press Grantee Spotlight This month’s feature article highlights the South Carolina Department of Education TAP System. Contact Us

Hot Off the Press

Twin Falls School District Tweaks Merit Pay Plan—Magic Valley Times-News. December 14, 2011. http://magicvalley.com/news/local/education/ twin-falls-school-district-tweaks-merit-pay-plan/ article_66f83f3b-41c4-5721-b0a2-04d9ddb2f1cd.html The Twin Falls School District in Idaho revised its performance-based compensation program to include school principals and building-level administrators. To determine bonus levels, the district plans to use student achievement measures for 70 percent of an effectiveness rating and the remaining percentage for submitting a student achievement and growth support plan, to be approved by the district. The local school board will vote in January on whether to approve the program. Kasich’s Teacher Evaluation Recommendations: A Translation—State Impact-NPR. December 13, 2011. http://stateimpact.npr.org/ohio/2011/12/13/ kasichs-teacher-evaluation-recommendations-a-translation/ As a result of their Race to the Top grant and recent legislation, Ohio public school districts must adopt new evaluation systems by the 2013–14 school year. In response to the governor’s request, teachers and other key stakeholders across the state conducted meetings to discuss the new policies. The stakeholders released a report detailing their perceptions of the state teacher evaluation framework and recommendations for state policymakers, including determining measures of student growth for nontested grades and subjects; differentiated evaluation processes for teachers; use of trained evaluators to shift burden off principals; and use of multiple measures of performance, beyond test scores. SC Teachers’ Certification Bonuses Questioned—WSPA. December 9, 2011. http://www2.wspa.com/news/2011/ dec/09/sc-teachers-certification- bonuses-questioned-ar-2838264/ Currently, South Carolina teachers receive a bonus for attaining National Board Certification. The state superintendent recently recommended to the governor that the state omit the bonuses in next year’s budget. While the state believes the certification process is useful professional development for teachers, a 2008 study showed that National Board Certified teachers are not more effective than other teachers are.

Board Approves Henderson Incentive Pay Program—Salisbury Post. November 29, 2011. http://www.salisburypost.com/News/ 112911-School-board-incentive-pay-qcd The Rowan-Salisbury School Board voted to approve an incentive pay program for Henderson Independent High School through the 2012–13 school year. The school will use funds from the U.S. Department of Education School Improvement Grants program to reward teachers with incentives up to $5,000 based on multiple measures of student achievement, graduation rates, staff attendance, student attendance, student discipline, and reduction of dropouts. District 197 OKs Pay-For-Performance—Patch. November 22, 2011. http://eagan.patch.com/articles/ district-197-oks-pay-for-performance The West St. Paul-Mendota Heights-Eagan School District recently adopted a performance-based compensation program under the Minnesota Alternative Teacher Professional Pay System, or Q-Comp as it is also known. The District 197 School Board recently voted to approve the plan in response to the new state statute that requires districts to develop new teacher-evaluation and peer-review systems by 2014–15.

Grantee Spotlight

South Carolina Department of Education: TAP System

The South Carolina TAP (SC TAP) System began in 2001 with six pilot schools. The Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) grant expands the SC TAP program to 59 schools for the 2011–12 school year. The TAP system aims to recruit, develop, and retain quality educators in high-need schools across South Carolina. Through the implementation of the TAP system, the state fulfilled multiple needs regarding the equitable distribution of effective teachers. By utilizing performance incentives, stipends for teacher leaders, and high-quality, job-embedded professional development, SC TAP has become a model of success for recruiting, supporting, and retaining effective teachers and administrators.

Primary Components of the Program

SC TAP follows the traditional four-component structure under the TAP System by providing:

· Multiple career paths for teachers

· Instructionally focused accountability

· Ongoing applied professional growth

· Performance-based compensation for
teachers and principals

The Role of Master and Mentor Teachers in SC TAP. Effective teachers can serve as Mentor and Master teachers for other teachers in their schools. Teachers reach the Mentor or Master level through a competitive process, administer targeted and individualized professional development, and conduct classroom observations. The on-site experts, in the form of Master and Mentor teachers, provide day-to-day coaching and mentoring services to the teachers under their supervision. Master and Mentor teachers collaborate with colleagues to construct benchmark lessons, team-teach, and demonstrate model instructional skills. They also lead cluster meetings that occur regularly and provide an opportunity for groups of teachers to discuss issues they are facing in the classroom and to learn from each other.

Teacher Evaluation Under SC TAP. Trained evaluators provide teachers with a score based on the Skills, Knowledge, and Responsibilities (SKR) observation rubric. Teachers are observed at least four times throughout the school year and receive a rating of 1 for unsatisfactory, a score of 3 for proficient, and a score of 5 for exemplary for each dimension of the SKR rubric. South Carolina operates a statewide teacher evaluation system, ADEPT. Under the TAP System, the SKR rubric aligns with ADEPT using a conversion chart (http://ed.sc.gov/agency/se/ School-Transformation/TAP/documents/tapadept2008.pdf). The evaluators use a specific formula made available by the state to convert the SKR score to an appropriate ADEPT score.

Teachers participate in job-embedded professional development determined by results from their classroom observations and student achievement results. The Master and Mentor teachers work within the larger school leadership team to ensure that all teacher evaluations link to individual professional development and overall teacher success by coaching teachers, designing their individual growth plans, and conducting observations.

Principal Evaluation Under SC TAP. TAP principal evaluation uses both the TAP Leadership Team evaluation and South Carolina’s principal evaluation system, the Program for Assisting, Developing & Evaluating Principal Performance (PADEPP). The TAP Leadership Team evaluation measures fidelity of TAP implementation, rubrics used under the state PADEPP (http://www.scteachers.org/
leadership/principalperformance.cfm) system, and starting in 2011 the Vanderbilt Assessment of Leadership in Education (VAL-ED) 360-degree assessment instrument.

Program Goals

SC TAP established the following goals:

· Attract and retain high-quality teachers and principals in high-poverty, high-need schools in South Carolina.

· Enhance leadership and career advancement opportunities for teachers in high-poverty, high-need schools in South Carolina.

· Enhance the preparation and performance of principals in high-poverty, high-need schools in South Carolina.

· Maintain and improve student achievement in high-poverty, high-need schools in South Carolina.

· Enhance statewide systems to identify, recruit, and retain high-quality teachers and principals in high-poverty, high-need schools.

System Incentives

Teacher and principal incentives use multiple measures, including evaluation results and value-added scores, to determine performance-based awards. For teachers in tested grades and subjects, student achievement growth uses both classroom-level and schoolwide value-added scores. For teachers in nontested grades and subjects, student achievement growth includes only schoolwide value-added scores. Principals in SC TAP schools receive incentives based on schoolwide value-added results.

TIF funding adds an additional $2,500 in incentive awards for teacher performance (value-added scores and evaluation results), allowing them to earn more than regular TAP schools. New teachers are also eligible for a recruitment incentive of $5,000 for choosing to work in an SC TAP school. Current SC TAP teachers deemed effective under the performance systems are also eligible for an annual $2,500 retention incentive.

Table 1. Teacher Incentives

	Performance Measure
	Schoolwide Value-Added	Classroom Value-Added	SKR Evaluation
Grades K–3 Teachers	30 percent	30 percent value added on Measures of Academic Progress (MAP)	40 percent
Grades 3–8 Teachers in Tested Subject Areas	30 percent	30 percent value added on state assessments	40 percent
Grades 3–8 Teachers in Nontested Subject Areas	30 percent	30 percent of a core subject’s value added on state assessments	40 percent
Grades 9–10 English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics Teachers	30 percent	20 percent class value added on MAP	50 percent
Grades 9–12 non-ELA and Mathematics Teachers	50 percent	n/a	50 percent

Administrators receive incentives up to $10,000 for their performance evaluation results.

Table 2. Administrator Incentives

	Performance Measure
	Schoolwide Value-Added	TAP Leadership Team Evaluation (fidelity of implementation)	Evaluation
Grades K–8 Principal	60 percent	20 percent	20 percent
Grades 9–12 Principal	60 percent	20 percent	20 percent

Recent Highlights of the Program

The SC TAP website (http://ed.sc.gov/agency/se/ school-transformation/tap/) provides additional details about the policies and procedures of the SC TAP program as well as news and updates. Specifically, the site hosts:

· A primer on understanding value-added models: (http://ed.sc.gov/agency/se/ School-Transformation/TAP/tapvalue.cfm)

· The SC TAP policies and procedures document that provides an overview of the roles of Mentor, Master, and career teachers, as well as the individual growth plan process (http://ed.sc.gov/agency/se/School-Transformation/ TAP/documents/sctappolicies.pdf)

· Information about how SC TAP and ADEPT work together (http://ed.sc.gov/agency/se/School- Transformation/TAP/tapadept.cfm)

· Details regarding the SC TAP expansion (http://ed.sc.gov/agency/se/School-Transformation/ TAP/documents/sctapexpansion.pdf)

· A SC TAP newsletter (http://www.scteachers.org/tadvance/newsletters.cfm)

In July 2011, SC TAP held its annual TAP Summer Institute where each TAP school’s leadership team (principal and Master and Mentor teachers) participate in sessions to help improve their TAP System implementation for the following years. Attendees participated in sessions that included support for Master and Mentor teachers on coaching, aligning the TAP System evaluation rubric with state policy, writing individual growth plans, effective time management, understanding value-added models, and observation training.

Contact Us

Center for
Educator Compensation
Reform

Allison Henderson, Director
Phone: 888-202-1513
E-mail: [log in to unmask]

The Center for Educator Compensation Reform (CECR) was awarded to Westat—in partnership with Learning Point Associates, an affiliate of American Institutes for Research; Synergy Enterprises Inc.; Vanderbilt University; and the University of Wisconsin—by the U.S. Department of Education in October 2006.

The primary purpose of CECR is to support Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) grantees in their implementation efforts through provision of sustained technical assistance and development and dissemination of timely resources. CECR also is charged with raising national awareness of alternative and effective strategies for educator compensation through a newsletter, a Web-based clearinghouse, and other outreach activities.

This work was originally produced in whole or in part by the Center for Educator Compensation Reform (CECR) with funds from the U.S. Department of Education under contract number ED-06-CO-0110. The content does not necessarily reflect the position or policy of CECR or the Department of Education, nor does mention or visual representation of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by CECR or the federal government.