Below are examples of innovative collaboration to increase student achievement.
COLORADO
- Denver: In 2005, voters approved a $25 million tax increase to fund a nine-year performance-based pay system for the city’s teachers. The agreement between the Denver Classroom Teachers Association and the Denver Board of Education ties raises or bonuses for teachers to evaluations, meeting objectives for improving student learning, working in hard-to-staff schools or positions, and building professionally-relevant knowledge and skills. Teachers who perform well on these measures earn much more money over the course of their careers than under traditional pay plans based on experience and education.
- Statewide: With support of the American Federation of Teachers Colorado, the state recently passed landmark education legislation. The new evaluation system will hold teachers accountable for whether their students are learning, with 50% of a teacher’s evaluation based on students’ academic growth.
CONNECTICUT
- New Haven: The City of New Haven and the New Haven Federation of Teachers recently signed a five-year contract agreement that will rebuild the evaluation process. Instructional managers (principals and assistant principals) will be assigned to teachers to help lay out academic goals and plans. The managers will meet with the teachers throughout the year to give detailed feedback. At the end of the year, teachers will receive a 1-to-5 rating based on how much students learn, how well they do their jobs and how well they collaborate with colleagues. Exemplary teachers (rated a 5) will be eligible for promotion to leadership positions to share their skills with colleagues. “Developing” teachers (rated a 2) must improve within reasonable but limited time if they wish to keep their jobs. Teachers who are rated a 1 will receive intensive guidance and coaching. If they don’t improve they can be dismissed by the end of the school year.
DELAWARE
- Statewide: The state is including student learning in teacher and principal evaluations, using data to inform instructional decisions and working to turn around its lowest performing schools. Delaware hired 35 data coaches who, starting in the fall, will work with small cohorts of teachers to understand student data and help the teachers adjust their instruction accordingly and hiring 15 development coaches to work with principals. They are also assigning and keeping the most effective teachers in the highest-need schools by offering retention bonuses of up to $10,000.
ILLINOIS
- Evanston- Skokie School District: The district and union agreed to a two-part evaluation system: (1) appraisal of classroom teaching style and (2) student academic growth. Students take a test at the start of the year to see if they are performing at grade level and take another at year’s end to determine progress. Teachers who earn a rating of “excellent” are expected to move at least one low scoring child to grade level while assuring that most of the class gained a full year of growth, no matter where each child began. That score-dependent rating is combined with the traditional evaluation to produce a final appraisal of excellent, satisfactory or unsatisfactory. A teacher needs at least one excellent rating over several years to earn a merit pay boost.
- Chicago: 30 public schools are trying a program in which teachers get a bonus if test scores go up. The administration ultimately wants to use student achievement data as part of its teacher evaluations districtwide. Union officials said they would be open to that if testing were a small piece of a broader appraisal system.
MARYLAND
- Prince George’s County: The district and union are developing a comprehensive plan to fundamentally alter their approach to recruiting, supporting, evaluating, retaining, promoting, distributing, and rewarding effective teachers.
PENNSYLVANIA
- Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh Public Schools and Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers just signed a 5-year contract that includes new incentives for teachers, including a pay-for-performance pilot program. The program is voluntary for existing teachers and calls for a separate pay scale based on performance for new teachers. The contract also includes bonuses for schools that reach certain benchmarks and extra money for teachers who teach additional classes after school.
