Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Peter Gorman plunged into one of the most contentious topics in public education last month by announcing his intention to begin basing teacher pay on effectiveness in the classroom, rather than on experience and academic degrees. But if experience is any guide, he’ll face plenty of opposition from teacher groups and their political allies.
Generations of North Carolina public school teachers have been paid according to the level of degree they hold (bachelors or masters) and their years of teaching experience. Some school districts in the state have adopted incentive plans to reward teachers who teach in shortage areas such as math or special education, or who take positions in less desirable schools.
The state has also awarded bonuses to all staff at schools where student test scores rise to meet certain goals, though that program, part of the state’s “ABCs of education” plan, was put on hold due to the budget crisis and is unlikely to be resumed.
Gorman’s plan would be the first in the state to actually pay higher-performing teachers more than their peers. This “performance pay” is a key component of the district’s Strategic Plan 2014, which Gorman debuted in a Nov. 5 presentation to top educators and community leaders. When fully implemented, all CMS employees, including Gorman, would see their salaries rise or fall depending on how well they did their jobs.
In an exclusive interview with Carolina Journal, Gorman outlined his thinking. “What we’re looking to do is define effectiveness, measure effectiveness, recruit based on that definition, and reward based on that definition,” he said.
Defining teacher effectiveness is the key. The strategic plan calls for development of “multidimensional measures of teacher effectiveness” but makes clear that “student growth measures” such as test scores must be a part of that assessment. Asked about specific measures of teacher effectiveness, Gorman said, “There’s one first and foremost, and that’s growth in student achievement.”
Teachers’ groups nationally and in North Carolina have opposed adamantly the use of student test scores to measure teacher performance or set teacher pay. They argue that wide differences in the academic preparation, discipline, and motivation that individual students bring to the classroom make comparisons of educational outcomes useless.
Moreover, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Association of Educators President Mary McCray told WFAE-FM that pay for performance wouldn’t work in North Carolina because the state doesn’t allow teachers to unionize. She said flagging high-school graduation rates are a national problem that an isolated local program could not reverse.
But Gorman insists that distinctions between effective and non-effective teachers can be made, and that test scores must be part of the equation. He also said that development of the pay for performance plan will rely heavily on input from “teachers, assistant principals, psychologists, social workers,” and other employees.
Referring to pay for performance schemes that have been tried elsewhere, he said, “We’ve seen some places that have been successful with developing pay for performance, and [others] that have not been successful. When you roll out a completed plan and tell folks ‘this is it’ without any involvement, it’s not that successful.”
As for the argument made by some that any move away from rewarding teachers for degrees held and years of experience would weaken teacher performance, Gorman said, “For CMS, there’s no research that links graduate degrees to teacher effectiveness.”
He said that while there is some research that indicates increased effectiveness with years of experience, “after the first three years it dramatically levels off. There are even times [later in a teacher’s career] where more experience is even worse than less experience.”
Gorman has not identified where he would find the money to fund the program. He cited a law passed this year allowing CMS to use state employee salary funds in a pay-for-performance plan would require a vote of all employees affected, not just teachers. Gorman also said that his plan would not affect the 12 percent increase over base pay that teachers who have National Board certification currently receive.
Gorman envisions a three-year timeline for implementation of his plan. “I’ll be going to the board and asking them to put me on more of a performance-based contract first.”
Jim Stegall is a contributor to Carolina Journal.