Incentives have become the gold standard in the business world to challenge and reward employees for exemplary performance. Nearly every successful business has implemented some form of incentive program to acheive corporate objectives.
We believe that incentives can be a valuable and effective tool to encourage educational achievement by teachers and administrators. In fact, experiments are being undertaken all over the educational landscape to test this idea. We have previously noted several successful tests and expect more favorable outcomes in the future.
This weeks Chicago Tribune documented a recent $27 million grant from the Federal government to fund a test incentive program. Read more about it below....
"Chicago Public Schools will launch one of the nation's most ambitious merit pay systems with a $27.5 million federal grant that will allow the district to reward exemplary teachers and principals in hard-to-staff schools, officials announced Thursday.
It is the first time the Chicago district has experimented with the controversial concept of performance pay, and only one other Illinois district--East Aurora--has tried to link teacher pay to improving student test scores.
Chicago's grant from the U.S. Department of Education is the largest among school districts in the nation. The merit program will begin next school year.
It vaults Chicago into the center of a debate that's been brewing since the '90s about one of the most complicated and contentious ideas for school reform.
"This is monumental ... a historic day for Chicago schools," said schools chief Arne Duncan, who added that the groundbreaking proposal was crafted by a committee of award-winning teachers.
"We want to better retain and reward our best teachers. But this is not about competition. This is about building a team. There are no losers here. And we'll only go to schools that want this."
The program, funded for the first time this year, is part of President Bush's initiative to create a performance-based teacher and principal compensation system in high-need, high-poverty schools. Aside from the Chicago school system, 15 others are receiving grants this fall.
Performance pay has been a divisive issue between teachers unions and school administrators--and among teachers themselves. Unions have long argued that pay should be based on educational levels and seniority, while administrators counter that educators should be rewarded with extra pay for superior performance and working in challenging schools."
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