ProComp An Introduction

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ProComp -- An Introduction

• Kim Ursetta, NBCT
• Denver Classroom Teachers Association
• President
• Delaware State Education Association
• November 9-10, 2007

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A G E N D A

• ProComp A Closer Look
• Developing ProComp
• The Pay for Performance Pilot
• The Joint Task Force on Teacher Compensation
• The ProComp Election
• Behind ProComp
• Obstacles and Learnings

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1. ProComp A Closer Look
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Denver Public SchoolsA Snapshot

• Denver Public Schools serves about 72,500
  students in 143 schools and programs.
• The student population is highly diverse
• 57 are Hispanic, 18.9 are African American,
  19.7 are white, 3.1 are Asian American, 1.2
  are American Indian.
• Sixty-three (63) percent receive free or
  reduced-price lunch.
• There are 4,150 professional teachers and
  specialists
• Total general fund budget is about 565 million
• Total teacher payroll (not including insurance
  and retirement) was about 205 million

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Denver Classroom Teachers Association -- A
Snapshot

• Denvers NEA affiliate and exclusive bargaining
  agent
• Oldest classroom teacher organization in
  Colorado
• First NEA affiliate with a collective bargaining
  agreement west of the Mississippi, and if you
  believe Paying Teachers for What They Know and
  Do, one of the first districts with a single
  salary schedule in the United States
• About 3000 members
• Charter member of the Teacher Union Reform Network

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ProComp Aligns Teacher Compensation with the
Districts Goals

• Replaces a capped system of entitlements with an
  uncapped system of earned increases
• Allows teachers to build a professional
  compensation package based on a wider range of
  choices
• Introduced new market incentives

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ProComp Stands on a Foundation of Guiding
Principles

• All bargaining unit positions have the same
  opportunity
• Cost of living adjustments will be made equally
  to both systems
• The system is fully funded from a 25 million tax
  levy
• The single salary schedule will be maintained
  until the last bargaining unit member on it
  retires
• There will be no quotas
• Current teachers will have the right to opt in
  over the next five years

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Standards for Development of Alternative
Compensation System

• Fair
• Manageable
• Affordable
• Sustainable over time
• Increase Student Achievement
• Jointly researched, developed and implemented

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The ProComp Menu Is Composed of Ten Elements

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Knowledge and Skills

• 57 of the ProComp money
• Assumption 95 of teachers will complete a PDU
  annually
• Wide range of opportunities including work done
  during the normal work week
• Advanced Degrees/ Certifications
• Tuition Reimbursement

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Professional Evaluation

• Standards Based Evaluation
• Customization for teachers/ SSPs (14 varieties)
• More accurate and detailed process
• Evidence to support performance

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Market Incentives

• Hard to Staff Positions
• Objective criteria reviewed on annual basis
• Examples Secondary Math, Special Ed., ELA, SSPs
• Hard to Staff Positions
• 33 Schools identified by objective criteria
• Free and reduced lunch, Medicaid, Sp. Ed. Center
  Programs, ELA students
• Maintain designation for 3 years

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Student Growth

• Bulk of student growth dollars are in
  instructional objectives
• 1037 teachers participated in the study
• CSAP is not permitted to be used for SGOs
• Each teacher sets 2 relevant objectives (whether
  in ProComp or not)
• Objective setting is indirectly related to
  evaluation

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Student Growth

• CSAP Exceeding Expectations
• Teachers who exceed expected range of improvement
  (1 yr. of growth) on CSAP Test
• Distinguished Schools
• Academic Excellence
• Beat the Odds
• Student Growth

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ProComp Makes a Dramatic Change in Teacher Career
Earnings Opportunities
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2. Developing ProComp
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The Pay for Performance Pilot

• Established in August 1999
• Overseen by a collaborative Design Team
• Tested teacher objective setting process
• Teachers who met objectives received bonuses
• Engaged 16 schools
• Relied on external fundraising for development,
  but not operational support
• Called for external evaluation of the project

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The Joint Task Force on Teacher Compensation

• Created in November 2001
• 5 teachers, 5 administrators and 2 citizens
• Began with 1 year seminar phase
• Moved to a 1 1/2 year design phase
• Ended with a 2 month informational campaign
• Included tough decision to go promotional
• Ratified by 59 of the membership in 2004

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The ProComp Elections

• Which comes first, ratification or funding
  support?
• Ratification -- conducting a boutique election
• Traditional methods vs. non traditional methods
• The funding election
• A broad coalition supports a very controversial
  solution
• Denver Mill levy passed by 58 in November 2005

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Messages that Resonated with Voters

• New plan will reward teachers for working in our
  toughest schools
• ProComp will motivate teachers to develop new and
  better methods for teaching students
• Mayor Hickenlooper was a strong supporter.as a
  businessman he knows merit system is effective

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The ProComp Transition

• A Transition Team oversees guides policy
  implementation
• Six teachers, including three full-time release
  teachers
• Six Assistant Superintendents
• Full-time release teacher/coordinator

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The ProComp Transition

• Collaborative infrastructure
• Administrative collaboration is a big risk
• Work groups develop, implement and evaluate
  ProComp
• Operations team and 3.5 Committee coordinate
  development activities

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3. Underneath ProComp
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Most Gigantic Obstacles

• The current large urban school district is not
  designed to support compensation reform
• There is never enough money, time, people or
  support
• Student data and HR data are not organized to
  support compensation reform
• Administrative resistance, especially from
  instructional leadership
• Teacher skepticism and worst fears are well
  earned by experience
• Uncertain times -- whether political, economic,
  administrative -- undermine peoples confidence
  in change initiatives

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Hugest Learnings

• Money makes a difference
• Individual incentives are more popular than you
  think group incentives are less popular than you
  think
• There is never a good enough time to begin
  reform you cant wait until youre ready
• Create a name teachers and the public will
  recognize, but beware of the phrase pay for
  performance
• Its hard to make reform of teacher pay a small
  project it keeps growing and growing
• Keep student outcomes first
• This was the largest reform effort ever tried by
  an urban district and union

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ProComp is Built on Sound Financial Analysis

• For compensation systems to be fiscally sound,
  they must be sound over time
• The ProComp financial model resembles an
  actuarial model of a retirement system
• Anticipate annual revenue of 25 million,
  adjusted for inflation
• Predict success rates of each element
• Early expenditures are substantially less than
  25 million per year revenues are managed by a
  trust fund, not the district
• Overtime equilibrium is established based on
  turnover of experienced staff the compensation
  model must own revenue from turnover if it is to
  be stable

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ProComp Opt In Statistics

• First window November 7- December 31, 2005
• One-on-one salary setting meetings
• Opt in incentives (3000- 14,000)
• 683 teachers and SSPs opted in during first
  window
• Largest group was elementary teachers with 13
  years of experience
• Second Opt-in Window open through March 31, 2006
• 432 teachers and SSPs opted in
• 589 New Hires were automatically entered into
  ProComp in August 2006
• 38 of all teachers participate in ProComp
• Fall 2007 49 of Teachers are enrolled

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Next Steps

• Comprehensive Evaluation
• Limited Re-openers on the ProComp Agreement in
  October 2007
• Teacher Incentive Fund Grant
• Overall Evaluation in collaboration with the
  University of Colorado at Boulder
• Infrastructure Support for ProComp Systems
• Development of a Principal Alternative
  Compensation System

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An Inside View of Denvers ProComp Plan
By Phil Gonring, Paul Teske, and Brad
Jupp Amazon.com   Harvard Education Press
1.888.437.1437   Tattered Cover Book
Store303.436.1070
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Thank You

• DPS/DCTA ProComp Project
• http//www.DenverProComp.org
• http//www.denverclassroom.org