Designing a System of Performance-Based Pay

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Designing a System of Performance-Based Pay

• Charlotte Danielson
• charlotte_danielson_at_hotmail.com
• www.danielsongroup.org

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A Traditional Steps and Lanes Structure

• It was an advance on what came before, and is
  still an advance in some situations, e.g.
  independent schools
• Higher salaries are paid for additional years of
  experience and completion of courses and/or
  degrees

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Differentiated Evaluation Systems

• Multi-year cycle
• Comprehensive evaluation- every 2-4 years
• Self-directed professional inquiry in the other
  years

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Why Performance-Based Pay?(What is the Problem
for which P-B-P is the Solution?)

• Compensation in the private sector reflects
  individual performance
• Teaching is a flat profession. Long-term
  recruitment and retention of teachers requires
  the promise of higher career earnings
• Market forces make recruitment difficult in
  shortage areas
• Teachers must be motivated to work harder to
  increase student achievement

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Approaches to Differentiated Teacher Compensation

• Signing bonuses for hard-to-staff schools or
  shortage areas
• Higher pay for additional responsibilities, e.g.,
  debate team coach
• School or team based performance awards
• Individual pay-for-performance
• (The first three approaches are non-controversial)

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A Fundamental Flaw

• Unless a board (state, district, or school) is
  willing to write, in effect, a blank check, and
  since the number of individuals eligible for
  bonuses cannot be accurately predicted, teachers
  are, consequently, in competition with one
  another for scarce resources.

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High-Stakes (Consequential) Assessment

• The results matter, for either compensation or
  career status
• Procedures must meet high standards of
  psychometric rigor
• The system must be, and must be perceived to be,
  fair and accurate

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Requirements for Psychometric Rigor

• What are the criteria are they publicly
  understood, and do all teachers have the
  opportunity to demonstrate them?
• Who decides whether the criteria are met, and can
  they make consistent and defensible judgments
  based on evidence?

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Performance System Design
High Rigor Structured Mentoring Programs, e.g. New Teacher Center, Framework Induction Program Low ------------------------------------ National Board Certification Praxis III Level of Stakes -------------------High
Informal Mentoring Programs Low Rigor DANGER!!
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Stated Purposes of Individual Pay-for-Performance

• Motivate teachers to work harder
• Reward superior teaching
• Recognize enhanced career status
• Provide incentives for activities that benefit
  the entire school, e.g. action research
• (The first two are flawed, the last two have
  merit)

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Motivating Teachers to Work Harder

• This approach assumes that teachers are holding
  back, waiting for higher pay
• Most teachers find this assumption demeaning and
  insulting, an undermining of professionalism

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Motivating Teachers With Individual Performance
Awards

• Merit pay is an effective incentive in work such
  as sales and piecework, where employees
  contribute individually to the effectiveness of
  the entire effort.
• But in schools, the work is successive,
  accomplishments are cumulative, and cooperation
  is essential.

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Rewarding Superior Teaching

• Two basic approaches
• Inputs, that is, what teachers do, how well they
  do the work of teaching
• Outputs, that is, what teachers accomplish,
  typically how well their students learn

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Rewarding What Teachers Do

• Two basic approaches
• As judged by internal assessors, within the
  school or district, based on specific criteria
  (including parent input?)
• As judged by external assessors, for example
  National Board Certification
• (Only the latter is generally perceived to be
  valid)

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The Framework for TeachingSecond Edition

• Domain 4 Professional Responsibilities
• Reflecting on Teaching
• Maintaining Accurate Records
• Communicating with Families
• Participating in a Professional Community
• Growing and Developing Professionally
• Showing Professionalism

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Domain 2The Classroom Environment2a Creating
an Environment of Respect and Rapport
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Negative Consequences of Using the Framework for
Teaching(or other such definition)

• In their concern to look good on the rubric,
• Teachers become legalistic, parsing the words,
  defending their performance
• Teachers adopt a low-risk approach, not willing
  to try new approaches
• Teachers are unwilling to accept challenging
  students in their classes

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Rewarding What Teachers Accomplish

• Typically linked to student achievement on
  state-wide assessments
• Because of the importance of out-of-school
  factors, validity demands value-added measures

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Assumptions of Rewarding Teachers Based on
Student Achievement

• Available assessments include all valuable
  learning
• Assessments are available for all teachers
• In preparing students for the assessments,
  teachers will use good instructional strategies
• (That is, teaching to the test is good
  teaching)
• Statistical techniques can attribute student
  learning to individual teachers

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Negative Consequences of Rewarding Teachers Based
on Student Achievement

• Even if the assumptions are satisfied
• Cheating, by teachers or administrators
• Narrowing the curriculum to what is assessed, and
  the manner in which it is assessed
• If student achievement is defined as the
  percentage who exceed a standard, teachers
  concentrate their efforts on those close to the
  line, ignoring others

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Positive Consequences of School or Team-based
Performance Awards

• Recognizes that all teachers contribute to
  student learning
• Encourages collaboration and cooperation among
  teachers within the school or team

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Recognizing Enhanced Career Status

• Must designate career levels, for example
• Novice teacher (similar to probationary)
• Career teacher (similar to tenured)
• Master teacher
• Faculty leader

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Issues to Consider in Career-Ladder Systems

• What are the criteria for teachers to achieve the
  different levels?
• What are the procedures for teachers to move from
  one level to another?
• Who decides whether the criteria are met?
• Do the different levels carry differentiated
  responsibilities?

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Recommendations for Career-Level Systems

• Any teacher may apply for enhanced status
• Procedures contribute to professional learning,
  requiring self-assessment and reflection on
  practice
• Teacher actions contribute to the intellectual
  capital of the school, e.g., conducting and
  sharing action research
• Teacher applications are evaluated by both
  teachers and administrators

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Practical Challenges for Performance-Based
Compensation

• Time, for both teachers and evaluators
• Evaluator skill and detachment
• Stability of funding

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A Promising ApproachArlington, VA

• Traditional salary structure supplemented by
  bonuses worth 5 of base salary
• Within every five years of experience, teachers
  may apply for a bonus
• Three ways to win bonuses- achieve National
  Board certification- conduct action research-
  demonstrate informal teacher leadership
• The last two are determined by panels of trained
  teachers and administrators

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Bottom Line Benefit/Cost Ratio

• Given a pool of money, and given the goals of
  enhancing student learning, how should that money
  be spent? That is, is an investment in bonuses
  for teachers likely to yield more than the same
  money invested in, for example, mentoring,
  coaching, or professional development?