Arizona Teacher Compensation Models

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Arizona Teacher Compensation Models

• Penny Kotterman
• Pkotterman_at_cox.net
• NCTAF Partner States Regional Meeting
• Seattle, WA
• November 14-15, 2004

2
A Twenty Year Journey-The First 15

• Career Ladder Programs (ARS 15-918)
• A Schools (ARS 15-919)
• Unique District Performance-based Plans
• Milken Foundation Pilot Project -Teacher
  Advancement Program
• Financial support for National Board
  Certification

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-The next 5

• Proposition 301 passes, requiring Performance
  Based Pay for all Districts
• Governors Task Force Report calls for
• Improved base salary at the entry, 5 and 10 year
  levels
• Potential bonus pay of at least 5 of salary
• Consistent and agreed upon evaluation
  measurements for teachers and students
• Legislation is introduced for 3 consecutive years
  to provide a framework of consistency for PBP
• www.azleg.state.az.us 46th Legislature, Second
  Regular Session, SB1346
• Arizona Town Hall Recommends graduated increases
  in Teacher Pay tied to Experience and Performance

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Arizona Career Ladder Provisions

• Establishes a multi-level system of teaching
• Provides opportunities for continued professional
  advancement
• Requires at least
• Ensures that placement shall be based on more
  than one measure of teacher performance
• Requires teachers to be involved in the process
  and majority support the plan
• www.azleg.state.az.us, AZ Revised Statutes, Title
  15, Article 1.1, section 15-918

• Improved or advance teaching skills
• Higher level instructional responsibilities
• Demonstration of pupil academic progress

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Performance Incentive Program

• Alternatives to Career Ladder Program
• Principles of Effective Organizations, team work,
  parental and pupil involvement and support of
  teachers
• Documented evidence of support by school district
  employees
• Utilize measure of quality including parental
  satisfaction or rating of educational quality
• Teacher job satisfaction or rating of support
• Pupil satisfaction
• www.azleg.state.az.us, AZ Revised Statutes, Title
  15, Article 1.1, section 15-919

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Proposition 301-Education 2000

• Created a .6 sales tax increase
• Dedicated future revenues over 72 mill. from the
  Permanent Fund (State Trust Lands) directly to
  the Classroom Site Fund
• 20 to supplement basic teacher salaries
• 40 for teacher Performance Pay
• 40 for classroom based programs such as
  professional development, Aims intervention,
  drop-out prevention and class size reduction
• Required an additional 2 in base level funding
  for the first 5 years and 2 or inflation,
  whichever is less, for the following 15 years.

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How much is that?

• In 2003 the revenue from the Permanent Fund was
  93 million
• Because of Prop 301, 21 million of that was
  distributed directly into the Classroom Site
  Fund, along with the sales tax revenue, for a
  total of nearly 260 million dollars. The first
  year of Prop 301 248 million was the amount.
• In 2002-2003 the total share of Pre-K-12
  education from the state budget was 4.6 Billion.
• Our adjusted per pupil allocation is 5,319.00
• The ADE estimates an additional 242.00/per
  student in 04-05 from the Classroom Site Fund.

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Reform Efforts and Education Funding

• The Permanent Fund rose to 1 billion in the
  first 100 years. Projections based on current and
  future land sales and leases indicate that amount
  will grow to 3.5 billion in the next 10 years.
• The projected expendable revenue in 2014 is 140
  million. Minus the 72 million cap, that is 68
  million additional dollars dedicated directly to
  the Classroom Site Fund.
• There is no other voter protected source of
  revenue for K-12 education.

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How does it All Add Up?

• Nearly 40 of Arizonas teachers participate in
  Career Ladder incentive programs
• Another 5-10 participate in other incentive
  programs
• All teachers now participate, in some way, in the
  PBP systems defined by Prop 301
• In 10-15 of the school districts, support
  personnel and/or Administrators participate as
  well in site and district goals and pay
  incentives.

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How Did we Get Here in the First Place?-Why
change Teacher Compensation?

• Public Pressure to be more accountable and reward
  excellence
• 200 different salary schedules with widely
  disparate pay around the state
• A positive History with Career Ladders

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Teacher Salaries The Single Salary Schedule

• First introduced in Denver and Des Moines in 1921
  with the goal of providing compensation on the
  same scale regardless of race, gender, grade
  level taught or family status of the teacher. By
  1950, 97 of all schools had the single salary
  schedule

• Equity
• Removes potentially subjective administrative
  decisions
• Makes pay predictable
• Eliminates competition amongst teachers

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The Single Salary Schedule
Provides salaries to all teachers in a fair way,
but is not strategically aligned with needed
knowledge skill continuum or education goals

• Education units and degrees are at best
  indirectly focused on desired teacher knowledge
  skills
• Does not have a student academic progress element

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Current Salary Schedule
How could it be improved?
What's good?
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TRADITIONAL MERIT PAY
PERFORMANCE-BASED PAY

• Multiple Measure

• Single Measure

• Student Academic Progress
• Drop Out Rates
• Attendance
• Standards
• Portfolios

• Teacher Evaluation, or
• Student Achievement

• Multiple Assessors
• Measurable
• Clearly Defined, Shared Goals
• Periodic Review and Mentoring, Continuous
  Improvement

• Single Assessor
• Subjective
• Management Determined Goal
• Periodic Review

• 1-2 Observations

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Readiness
No Knowledge
Very Knowledgeable How knowledgeable are
you about performance-based pay? Extremely
Fearful
Not Fearful At All How fearful are you about the
development and implementation of
Performance-based pay? Detrimental to
instruction Great
Potential To what degree do you believe that a
quality performance-based pay plan has the
potential to positively improve instruction and
student achievement?
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Arizona Performance-based Pay Provisions
Premises

• All districts and all schools are required to
  have Performance-based Pay

• Specified funding can only be used for
  Performance-based Pay

• Districts with Career Ladders meet provisions
• Performance-based Pay plans may supplement
  current salary schedules

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Performance Based Compensation-What Happened?

• Developed and approved at the local district
  level, or Charter School level
• Experiences ranged) from arbitrary and
  contentious to cooperative and collaborative
• Plans are widely disparate and inconsistent

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The Auditor General Reports

• Districts spent 224 million from the CSF, almost
  solely for compensation
• Increases attributable to Prop 301 averaged 10,
  but ranged from 1-20
• The amounts ranged from 250-7,547

• Most plans have student achievement goals at the
  grade level, site or district level, or some
  combination
• Many plans include some kind of Professional
  Development
• All are bonus plans
• Increases in base salary and PBP make up
  significant increases in salaries over the last
  three years for most teachers

Arizona Auditor General, Arizona Public School
Districts Dollars spent in the Classroom, Fiscal
year 2003 (February 2004) www.auditorgen.state.az.
us Reports/School Districts/statewide
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The AEA PBP Survey

• Done by electronic and personal interview with
  teachers and leaders in a representative sample
  of 46 school districts around the state
• Only 38 were determined in negotiations w/the
  district most often other processes or
  committees were used to develop the plans and
  most are ongoing
• Districts are evenly split between having one
  district wide plan, or having a plan that is then
  refined with site goals.

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What Components do the Plans Include?

• 54 include pay based on group goals for student
  achievement
• 32 include individual pay based on professional
  development
• 22 include individual pay based on student
  achievement
• Most plans include a combination of factors and
  goals, both group and individual
• 39 of the districts require a satisfactory
  teacher evaluation to be eligible for PBP.

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How do Teachers think they Measure Up?

• There is security in an affordable and
  predictable salary schedule- 65/13
• Compensation system is mutually developed and
  supported by a majority of those effected-
  62/20
• There is continuous involvement of all
  stakeholders in implementation, review and
  evaluation- 58/22
• The system is clearly defined and understandable-
  64/20
• The system has clear goals and is developed and
  implemented in phases- 43/32

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What Teachers Think

• There is equal access and opportunity at all
  levels of the plan for all participants- 78/11
• The system promotes collaboration, cooperation
  and equity- 56/29
• System includes multiple measures and multiple
  options, and allow choice- 42/18/22
• Individual educators are involved in the design
  of their own performance goals- 44/16/18/27
• School district and site goals, teacher
  evaluation, student assessment and curriculum are
  all aligned with the AZ Student Academic
  Standards and the Professional Teaching
  Standards- 53/20

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What Teachers Think?

• 11. Measures of student academic progress are
  mutually agrees upon by all stakeholders and are
  aligned with the Standards- 45/31/20
• There is a standards based Professional
  Development component, including mentoring and
  collegial assistance- 27/27/16/31
• Incentives and rewards in the system are
  significant enough to encourage continuous
  improvement and demonstrate respect for
  individuals- 36/36
• There is a fair and objective appeal procedure-
  36/20/13/20 (11 dk/no)
• There is a process that supports the development
  of a positive school climate- 40/27

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What Impact does PBP have on Teacher Quality,
Retention, and Student Achievement?

• The Mesa story- Our largest district
• Some of the highest class size in the state
• Career Ladder and Prop 301
• Average total increase 4, 848
• School District does not meet AYP
• Of 200 Schools, only 2 are Underperforming
• Sub-group data shows improvement is sporadic
  across the district steadily increasing in about
  50 of schools at some grade levels
• High School Assessments indicate some improvement
  over last two years

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Mesa Profile
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Relationships and Purpose
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The Arizona Continuum
A well prepared, highly compensated, quality
Teacher for every Arizona Child
Initial/ Prov. Certification 0-2 yr
Teacher Prep
Student Teaching Practicum
Full Time employment Mentoring and Induction
Perf. Assessment 2-3yrs
Electronic Portfolio observation
Expanded portfolio observations tailored to
Performance Rubric
Distinguished Educator NBCT 4 yrs
Optional Distinguished Educator Performance
Assessment Or National Board Certification
Teacher evaluation/performance based
compensation system based on the AZ student and
teacher standards
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Current Policy Initiatives-The Arizona
Legislature

• Expectation is that some significant portion be
  tied to student achievement
• There are varying definitions, concepts and plans
  to address this issue
• The Arizona Business and Education Coalition
  plans to bring new legislation forward this
  session
• Strategies and processes are in place to continue
  the commitment to an overall state framework that
  is flexible but contains key components and is
  evaluated for the effect of PBP systems on
  teacher pay and student achievement
• Further definitions in teacher, student and
  school accountability are expected

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Policy Initiatives- State Board of Education and
Arizona Governors Office

• Further refinements in the tiered licensure
  system, including the development of rubrics for
  Performance Assessments for proficiency at the
  end of year 2 and a voluntary Master Teacher
  certification after year 3
• Standards for Induction and Mentoring in the 1st
  two years and financial requests for state-wide
  funding
• Revisions in certification processes to expand
  opportunities (Alternative Certification)
• More rigorous cut scores on existing teacher
  cert. exams
• Review and revise Administrator standards
• Review and revise teacher evaluation criteria
  (Part of PBP and SBOE policy)
• Title II Teacher Quality Grant
• Wallace School Leadership Grant

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What does the Future Hold?

• Economic downturn has created enhanced skepticism
  about further increases in pay or expansion of
  programs
• Previous budget shortfalls in state revenues have
  slowed growth in state programs
• Even though this years income is higher than
  expected, a much more fiscally conservative
  legislature is not expected to be easily
  convinced to invest in further increases in
  education funding
• Passage of PBP legislation could set the
  groundwork for enhanced revenue in the future
• System Evaluation and impact studies could
  provide data
• Leadership of the Arizona Business Education
  Coalition gives this renewed energy
• Changes in Career Ladder conforming, expansion,
  or phase out