A high-involvement framework for education suggests the need to shift from a salary structure based on years of experience and education units to one based on direct measures of what teachers know and can do, as well as group- and school-based performance awards. Such a structure could include a salary increase for certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS). The NBPTS, the American Federation of Teachers, and the National Education Association are strongly interested in new approaches to teacher compensation. Indeed, these organizations are joining with the Finance Center of the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE) over the next two years to study alternative teacher compensation structures.
A skill-based or pay-for-knowledge compensation structure would need to specify the knowledge areas that qualified for pay increments and determine how to assess whether teachers possessed the specified knowledge and skills. Skill blocks could be related to increasing depth of knowledge in a content area (or multiple areas, especially for schools using a multidisciplinary curriculum); breadth skills, such as curriculum development, staff development, and counseling; and management skills, such as developing and monitoring school budgets, heading decision-making teams, and monitoring the school's strategic plan with respect to an indicator system that measures the school's performance. Odden and Conley (1992), Mohrman, Mohrman, and Odden (1994, forthcoming) and Conley and Odden (1994, under review) outline in considerable detail how such a compensation structure might be designed.
Performance awards based on schoolwide improvements in student performance could be provided on top of a skill-based pay system. Such awards could include bonuses for meeting or exceeding improvement targets. They could use fixed dollar amounts or percentage-of-salary bonuses for all staff in the school. Alternatively, awards could be limited to school improvement or professional development activities. Gain sharing programs also could be implemented, allowing the faculty or school to keep any dollars saved by restructuring the school, as long as student performance improvement targets are maintained.
References