Presentation Intro

The Future of Educator Compensation:

Strategic and Sustainable Salary Structures

Patrick Schuermann

Center for Educator Compensation Reform

Vanderbilt University

Measuring What Matters- Paying for Teacher Quality

September 14, 2009

Purposes of Educator Compensation

• Payment for employment

• Attract talented teachers

▪New teachers• Traditionally or alternatively trained

• Career changers or retired individuals

• Retain effective teachers

• Market incentives for hard-to-staff subjects or schools

• Incentives for advanced degrees or certifications

• Remuneration for taking on additional leadership roles and responsibilities

Approaches to Educator Compensation

• Traditional Single Salary Schedule

▪Standardized increases based on:• Years of experience

• Advanced degrees

• Certification levels

• Alternate Approaches

▪Variable increases based on:• Acquisition of knowledge and skills

• Effectiveness (based on multiple measures, including Value-Added)

• Market factors (hard to staff schools and subject areas)

• Leadership roles and responsibilities

Comparing Traditional Salary

Schedule Raises and Performance

PayTraditional Salary Schedule Raises

Performance Pay Raises

Funds are not linked to the most important outcomes of schooling, such as increased levels of student performance

Funds are directly liked to the most important outcomes of schooling

Do not provide motivation or rewards for elevated levels of school or teacher effectiveness

Do provide motivation or rewards for elevated levels of school or teacher effectiveness

Do not encourage the continued professional development of teachers and principals

Do encourage the continued professional development of teachers and principals

Do not provide impetus for schools and districts to align their resources with their core goals

Do provide impetus for schools and districts to align their resources with their core goals

Endorse the status quo Challenge the status quo

Do not help schools and districts attract and retain highly effective teachers and administrators

Do help schools and districts attract and retain highly effective teachers and administrators

Do not encourage schools to consider how to effectively assess student learning across multiple grades and subject areas

Do encourage schools to consider how to effectively assess student learning across multiple grades and subject areas

Challenges to Alternate Pay Programs

• It represents a fundamental change to a system that has been in place for nearly a century

▪Change is difficult

• Agreement on how to define and measure school, team and teacher effectiveness

▪Recognize the contribution that all teachers make to student growth and development

• Ensuring programmatic and fiscal sustainability

▪Align the program to the district’s holistic approach to improvement and human capital development

▪Finding and maintaining funding for the program

Programmatic Integration is Key

The Challenge of Financial Sustainability

• Current performance pay programs across the nation are sitting almost exclusively atop traditional salary systems

▪Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) program

▪Denver ProComp system

▪Minnesota Qcomp system

▪Texas Educator Compensation programs

• The real-life challenges of financial sustainability

▪Lessons from Denver

▪Lessons from Austin

▪Lessons from TIF

Six Strategies for Fiscal Sustainability

• Redeploy current state, district, or school resources

• Redirect future resources

• Repackage state and federal categorical aid programs

• Seek additional public funding

• Seek philanthropic or corporate support

• Replace core components of the single salary schedule with performance-pay elements

Strategic and Sustainable Approaches

• Materials referenced on this slide are not in this electronic document

The North Carolina & Guilford Contexts

• In North Carolina, nearly 1/3 of all teachers have a Master’s degree and on average, each teacher receives a salary increase of over $4,400 dollars for this degree. State-wide, over $140 Million is spent on this practice annually, at a cost of $100 per student.

• In Guilford County Schools, during the 2008-2009 school year, 1,500 of the 6,000 FTEs (25%) received a total of $77.5 Million for Master’s Degrees and years of experience.

• Additionally, 280 FTEs (almost 5%) received $16.5 Million for NBPTS certification and experience.

• Together, compensation for all advanced degrees and years of experience total over $100 Million dollars expended annually in Guilford County.

The Path Ahead

• Enable innovation and growth through consciously constructed stakeholder engagement

• A strategic approach involves both immediate action and long-term vision

• A hybrid approach may be a logical next step

▪Lessons from Denver

• $100 Million and 6,000 FTEs = $16,000 per teacher

▪Imagine the possibilities

• Mission Possible is a perfect title and metaphor for the challenging work of enhancing teacher quality and reforming educator compensation. Guilford County has been a leader in the state, and is poised to serve as a model for our nation.