ABSTRACT

This chapter argues for changing teacher compensation in ways that align it with the two core sets of SMHC metrics discussed in previous chapters: measures of teacher performance and measures of teaching effectiveness (impact on student performance). The ideas in this chapter reinforce the teacher pay changes sweeping the country, from the breakthough pay program agreed to in mid-2010 in Washington, D.C. to the multiple value-added pay bonus programs in several districts including Dallas (TX) and Houston (TX), the “extreme makeover” salary structure in Denver (CO), and additional changes that will emerge from Race to the Top initiatives and the second round of the federal Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) program.