What's on TAP
[2013] [2012] [2011] [2010] [2009]
August 19, 2010
Performance-Based Compensation:
Design and Implementation at Six Teacher Incentive Fund Sites
With the enactment of the Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) in 2006, the federal government initiated an effort to support innovative approaches that compensate teachers and principals based on effectiveness. Across the country, 33 TIF grantees are implementing performance-based compensation systems. Eckert selected six TIF projects that had promising preliminary data showing increased student achievement, wide stakeholder support, improvements in recruitment and retention, and positive changes in school cultures. Four of the six implement TAP.
Through interviews, focus groups, data analysis and site-based observations, Eckert identified a number of striking similarities in the design and implementation of these projects that are also supported through existing research:
"TAP has brought the faculty together. It has united us. It has made me feel like a stronger teacher. Even with 34 years of experience, I can learn new techniques."
— Teacher, Crockett Elementary School, Bryan, Texas
- Performance compensation is most effective when integrated with professional development, collaboration and evaluation as a comprehensive approach to system-wide improvement.
- Wide stakeholder involvement is essential to the design, implementation and effectiveness of compensation reform efforts.
- Financial incentives reward additional work and success, but are valued as a component of a broader emphasis on improving teaching and learning.
- Nearly all of the sites created teacher leader positions with significant additional compensation to provide school-based support, evaluation and oversight for instructional improvement.
- Success in implementing these challenging reforms with fidelity is enhanced when states and districts provide staff positions, offer programmatic support and tie local efforts to state policies and funding.
- Financial sustainability is enhanced when state and district funds are reallocated to support performance compensation reforms.
Erik Hanushek, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
"The evaluation of TAP schools clearly shows that teachers in the program are significantly better than the average teacher in regular public schools. More TAP teachers are above average in terms of student achievement gains. Fewer are far below. This finding is very notable given the importance of teachers to student achievement."