Educational Research Service Making a Difference in Our Children’s Future 
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Educational Research Service Making a Difference in Our Children’s Future
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ERS Successful School Practices
A selection of successful practices, programs, and ideas contributed by school districts to the ERS Successful School Practices Collection and announced in the ERS periodical, Successful School Practices, mailed to ERS Comprehensive subscribers three times a year.
Winter 2002
Incentives for Teaching
Quality and Effectiveness in
Douglas County, Colorado
Douglas County Schools, Castle Rock, Colorado
Pay for Knowledge, Skills and Success
In 1994, “in order to improve overall district performance,” the
Douglas County, Colorado, school district instituted the nation’s most
comprehensive performance pay system. This radical approach to improving the
quality of instruction embodies a profound philosophical shift away from being
rewarded for “showing up” and “hanging in there” to one
where demonstrable gains in knowledge, skills and success are rewarded. This
extensive system of compensation, constantly being revised, attempts to avoid
the problems associated with failed “merit pay” systems, such as the
creation of a climate of competition rather than cooperation among teachers.
The plan was the creation of both the district and its teachers’ union,
the Douglas County Federation of Teachers, whose members have voted overwhelmingly
each year to continue to improve its provisions. Today, teachers’ pay increases
are not primarily a function of length of service, but of individual effectiveness
in the classroom. Increasingly, this effectiveness is being measured by gains
in student achievement.
The Douglas County performance pay plan for teachers can be considered as a
plan with two major parts. The first part is comprised of the basic salary structure
for all teachers in the district. The second, and completely distinct from the
first, is a series of bonus incentive components that teachers may participate
in voluntarily. Teachers who choose to participate in one or all of the incentive
components can augment their salary, but under no circumstances do they risk
losing base salary.
Base Salary Determination
The first part establishes a teacher’s base salary by using a compound
interest formula that factors in both a teacher’s number of successful
evaluation credits (what in a salary schedule is termed a longevity step) and
the level of education a teacher has attained. Each factor represents a percentage
value of the base salary. Multiplying these two factors against the base determines
the actual salary a teacher receives.
While this might appear to be a salary schedule by another name, unlike a conventional
single-cell schedule, under the performance pay plan a teacher does not automatically
receive an increase based on length of service. Teachers must receive a satisfactory
evaluation of their performance to be eligible for such an increase. Thus, the
base salary distinguishes between “proficient” and “unsatisfactory”
teacher performance.
Teachers who receive an unsatisfactory rating are not eligible to receive an evaluation credit, a negotiated cost-of-living adjustment, for the coming year. In essence, their salary is frozen for one year. Moreover, unsatisfactory performance ratings also preclude the teacher’s participation in any of the bonus incentive components of the plan.
Bonus Incentive Component
The second part of the Douglas County performance pay plan is composed of a
series of six incentive bonus components. These bonus components are designed
to encourage and reward aspects of teacher performance that were not traditionally
rewarded under the single-cell salary schedule or an additional activities schedule.
Bonus incentive awards are completely separate from a teacher’s base salary
and are made as one-time payments, though eligible teachers may participate
each year.
Group Incentive Program
The first bonus incentive component of the pay plan is the Group Incentive Program.
This component is designed to encourage cooperative efforts within schools,
or groups of teachers, to work on common goals that directly affect student
performance. Plans are developed within schools by planning committees that
work with the school’s entire staff. Teachers draft a plan, collect signatures
of support from other faculty members, the building administrator and the building
Accountability Committee.
All of this is done prior to submitting the school’s proposal to the Group
Incentive Board (GIB), the governing body of the Group Incentive Plan component.
This body reviews the proposed plan, can recommend revisions, and grants final
approval for the school to move ahead. At the end of the school year, a participating
group compiles a final report detailing the execution of the plan and evidence
of its impact on students. Additionally, reflections of the overall plan and
recommendations for the future are submitted to the GIB. The GIB then makes
the determination as to whether the plan’s goals were met and a bonus should
be awarded.
In 2000, the GIB focused on aligning a school’s improvement plan with its
group incentive proposals. The current thinking is that schools which are able
to enlist 75 percent of their teachers to participate in the group incentive
plan would also be able to use it as their school improvement plan.
Outstanding Teacher
Another bonus incentive component, and perhaps the most controversial, is the
Outstanding Teacher Program. This component of the plan rewards teachers who
have demonstrated individual outstanding performance. The Outstanding Teacher
programs are currently a bonus of $1,250. Today, teachers in Douglas County
can take advantage of four different outstanding teacher programs. Douglas County
has four different programs because teachers who were successful a number of
times on Type A asked for more and challenging ways to demonstrate their performance.
Type A, the original Outstanding Teacher program, uses criterion established
by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and modified by the
Outstanding Teacher Committee. To receive the bonus, teachers notify their building
administrator of their intent to participate, collect six artifacts during the
school year supporting their outstanding performance, compile a portfolio that
includes relevant career and teaching assignment information.
Teachers must also include their educational philosophy and information generated
by peer and client (parents/student) surveys. The portfolio is submitted to
the building administrator at the beginning of May. The building administrator
then reviews the documentation and makes the decision whether or not to award
the designation of “Outstanding Teacher” and the $1,250 bonus.
Type B is a portfolio based on standards-based education. Teachers compile a
“body of evidence” showing their efforts in using Douglas County’s
“configuration map” to develop a standards-based classroom. The configuration
map is a rubric that defines standards-based educational practices on a variety
of domains. Teachers “measure” themselves against the rubric and submit
their portfolios.
Type C is for teachers who are pursuing National Board Certification. To limit
the amount of paperwork, teachers can submit a copy of their National Board
portfolio with some minor modification.
Type D is a new feature of the plan and one that is becoming more and more important
in the district’s efforts to improve outcomes for its students. This component
is based purely on actions resulting in student growth. Teachers submit proposals
directly related to a specific aspect of student learning. Student success,
and hence teacher success, is measured by comparing pre- and post-tests outcomes.
Teachers will receive the designation based on their ability to demonstrate
“outstanding” student growth within their unique teaching assignment.
An appeals process exists for teachers denied the designation of “Outstanding
Teacher.” The appeals board is composed of nine members: five teachers
appointed by the Douglas County Federation of Teachers (DCFT) and four administrators
appointed by the district. The board has the authority to review the appeal
and recommend to the superintendent of schools that the decision by the building
administrator be upheld or overturned. The final decision rests with the superintendent.
Skill Blocks
The performance pay plan also includes a “Skill Block” component designed
to provide incentives for teachers to obtain skills identified by the district
as central to fulfillment of its mission. Skill blocks are offered at after-school
sessions and carry graduated values ranging from $250 to $500. To receive the
skill block bonus, teachers must not only attend training sessions but must
also demonstrate mastery of the skill through an authentic assessment administered
at the conclusion of the training program. In other words, the teacher must
integrate the skill with his or her daily instruction. The district offers nine
skill blocks for teachers and is developing two more. Over time, certain skill
blocks will be phased out and others added.
Master Teacher
The Master Teacher component refers to the Colorado Master Teacher License as
mandated by the state’s Educator Licensing Act. However, because those
requirements are still not available, the decision was made to develop criteria
unique to Douglas County. A Master Teacher must show outstanding student growth
similar to a Type D Outstanding Teacher and possess a National Board Certification
or two years of “Outstanding Teacher.” Additionally, applicants must
show leadership in their teaching field. Once a teacher receives the Master
Teacher designation, he or she will be eligible to assume a variety of mentoring
roles within Douglas County. The Master Teacher award is for five years and
is currently worth $2,500 each year.
Responsibility Pay
The final bonus incentive component addresses the issue of additional responsibilities
undertaken by teachers for which they historically have received no additional
compensation. Responsibility Pay is broken into two divisions: district responsibility
pay and site-based responsibility pay.
District Responsibility Pay
District responsibility pay, funded at a level of approximately $25 per teacher
FTE per year, is awarded to teachers who take on responsibilities at the district
level. This includes such activities as membership on the district’s Teacher
Evaluation Committee and the Twenty-first Century Partnership, a committee that
considers and approves waivers to board policy and contract provisions. All
of the committees that direct and modify the performance pay plan are also paid
with district responsibility pay.
Site-based Responsibility Pay
Site-based responsibility pay, based on a per-student formula, is distributed
at the individual school level to teachers based on criteria and in award amounts
determined by the school staff. Teachers in every building either elect representatives
or use the entire staff to decide which responsibilities will be paid and in
what amounts. This program is entirely site-based, and there is very little
guidance from Central Office or the DCFT. Schools make their decisions and submit
pay vouchers to the payroll department.
Conclusions
On the whole, seven years into implementation, the Douglas County performance
pay plan appears to be working very well. Participation in each of the past
six years in all of the plan’s bonus incentive components has been high.
Furthermore, studies conducted by outside researchers found a high level of
awareness and confidence in the plan as a whole and its various component parts.
Moreover, if the study’s findings about the plan were not enough, the fact
that the last five contracts have included the performance pay plan and have
passed by margins of greater than 95 percent of the teachers is a clear indication
of the level of support this plan currently enjoys among the teachers of Douglas
County.
It is still too early to determine whether or not Douglas County’s performance
pay plan for teachers is a complete success. Since the pay plan went into effect,
student achievement in Douglas County has improved by virtually all measures.
However, performance pay has not been the only improvement effort instituted
during this time. Many other curricular and structural changes were also implemented.
Performance pay is only one piece of Douglas County’s strategic plan for
school improvement and has never been considered a “magic bullet”
for school reform.
Yet, the experiences of educators in Douglas County leads them to believe that,
in fact, compensation systems can be designed and implemented as alternatives
to the traditional single-cell salary schedule that more effectively reward
teachers for various aspects of their performance. What is more, the design
of these systems need not create competitive environments that discourage teachers
from positive interaction, professional collaboration, and cooperation.
The district and union believe that a key to their success can be found in the
fact that they recognized and sought to avoid two pitfalls districts encounter
when they develop performance-based compensation plans for teachers. One pitfall
is trying to develop a plan based on punishing teachers. If the primary focus
of the pay plan is to create a whipping post for poor teacher performance, the
plan will have little or no teacher support and will have minimal impact on
teacher performance; although it will surely have considerable negative impact
on teacher morale. Douglas County set out to design a system that would do just
the opposite: encourage teachers to aspire to higher levels of performance in
their schools and classrooms and reward them for their success.
The other pitfall is trying to use performance pay plans as a quick fix for
the ills that afflict particular school districts or public education as a whole.
Developing and implementing a performance pay plan for teachers is not an event—it
is a process. To expect that such a plan will right any problems other than
those directly related to the issue of compensation creates a false expectation
and will assure the plan’s failure by any and all measures.
For information about incentives for teaching quality and effectiveness in Douglas County, CO, contact:
Ellen Bartlett
Assistant Superintendent, Human Resources
Douglas County Schools
Phone: (303) 814-5253
Contributed by:
Douglas County Schools
Castle Rock, CO
Superintendent:
Dr. Richard O’Connell
and
Douglas County Federation of Teachers
Castle Rock, CO
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