In Texas this school year, teachers have money riding on their students鈥� achievement.
Up to $10,000, in fact, under a new program designed to reward high-performing teachers in high-poverty districts, and encourage other teachers to do better.
Though many states have debated changing the way teachers are paid, Texas is one of just three that have succeeded in linking compensation for individual teachers with student achievement. At the end of this school year, teachers in about 1,000 Texas schools will be eligible for cash bonuses, which will likely range from $3,000 to $10,000, for boosting student performance.
The state has set aside $100 million for these rewards, which will filter down to more than 10 percent of Texas schools.
The issue of pay for performance鈥攐r merit pay, as it used to be called鈥攊sn鈥檛 new, but states like Texas are eyeing bonuses as the easiest way to tie teachers鈥� paychecks to test scores. Unlike revamping a whole pay system, bonuses don鈥檛 carry the threat of reducing teachers鈥� paychecks. So Florida, Texas, and Alaska turned to cash bonuses this year.
But whether an end-of-the-year cash bonus will translate into student success is another matter.
鈥楤ig Mistakes鈥�
鈥淭here鈥檚 no question we need a new professional compensation structure, but we鈥檙e seeing big mistakes of the past repeated,鈥� said Barnett Berry, the president of the Hillsborough, N.C.-based Center for Teaching Quality. 鈥淪tates are still clearly overusing the test to gauge teacher effectiveness. If people think a 5 percent salary bonus is really going to make a big difference, they really don鈥檛 understand the teaching profession.鈥�
Yet more states will try this approach during the 2007 legislative sessions. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who is up for re-election this year, will make it a priority during the next legislative session, said Gilbert Gallegos, a spokesman for the Democrat. Details, however, are still being worked out.
Maryland Gov. Bob Ehrlich, a Republican in a tough re-election battle, announced last week that he wants to spend $800,000 next budget year to craft a new 鈥渜uality compensation鈥� system for his state鈥檚 teachers. Whether the new pay system鈥攚hich would be voluntary for districts鈥攚ould involve bonuses or an alternative salary structure is still to be decided, said spokesman Henry P. Fawell.
In the past decade, Arizona, Minnesota, and North Carolina have enacted different types of programs that tie teacher salaries, in part, to student achievement. School systems in Denver and Houston have also adopted performance-pay programs for teachers. (鈥淭est-Tied Bonuses to Take Effect in Houston,鈥� Jan. 18, 2006.)
鈥楳eaningful鈥� Amounts
No matter what proponents call such ideas鈥攂onuses, merit pay, or performance pay鈥攗nions are still generally opposed to them. In Texas, teachers鈥� unions unsuccessfully fought the new bonus program.
鈥淔irst, we need to do across-the-board pay raises, and then we can come back and look at things that would be fair for everyone,鈥� said Rob D鈥橝mico, a spokesman for the Texas Federation of Teachers, a 53,000-member affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers.
The Texas program is aimed at the schools with the highest percentage of economically disadvantaged students. About 1,170 of the state鈥檚 7,900 schools were eligible to take part, and 1,098 schools have told the state education department they want to do so. Individual districts will work with teachers to figure out how they鈥檒l evaluate performance and distribute money. Each plan, which must be submitted to the state for approval, must be crafted with significant input from teachers and include at least three letters of support from teachers, said Debbie Graves Ratcliffe, a spokeswoman for the Texas Education Agency.
Next summer, the state will award grants to schools with approved plans based on performance during this school year. The awards will range from $40,000 for the smallest schools to $200,000 for the largest. The schools will then hand out the bonuses to individual teachers based on the approved plans. Seventy-five percent of the money must go to the classroom teachers whose students scores go up. The remaining money can go to other teachers and staff members, such as reading specialists and administrators, who played a role in students鈥� success.
The TEA is recommending the bonuses range from $3,000 to $10,000 per teacher.
鈥淲e want it to be large enough to be meaningful,鈥� Ms. Ratcliffe said.
Schoolwide Rewards
In Florida and Alaska鈥攖he two other states that enacted bonus programs for this school year鈥攖he rewards apply statewide, and not only to high-poverty schools.
The Florida legislature this year set aside $147.5 million for its Special Teachers Are Rewarded plan, or STAR, which replaces an earlier, unsuccessful performance-pay system. The top 25 percent of teachers in districts that choose to participate will be rewarded with cash bonuses next summer equaling 5 percent of their pay. For a teacher making $40,000, that鈥檚 a $2,000 bonus. The money will be doled out to individual teachers based on an evaluation system devised by each district and its teachers鈥� union and approved by state officials.
Alaska鈥檚 new program follows an older model of rewarding whole schools. The three-year program rewards all staff members in a school that shows improvement, based on a complicated formula, or in the case of an already high-performing school, sustained achievement. Certified staff members will receive $5,500, while noncertified staff, including classroom assistants and secretaries, receive $2,500. District-level personnel, such as reading specialists who serve multiple schools, are also eligible, said Roger Sampson, the state鈥檚 commissioner of education and early development.
鈥淲e believe that if we鈥檙e going to get substantial improvement,鈥� Mr. Sampson said, 鈥渆verybody in that school is responsible.鈥�
