Suggest Denver’s ProComp performance pay for teachers as a model for Jeffco Schools to Jeffco Superintendent Cindy Stevenson, and there is pullback and rightfully so. Stevenson is in the midst of putting together a plan, and she says what will work for Jeffco will surely be different than what works for Denver.
She’s right. For starters, there are many differences between the two districts. Perhaps the most notable is that Jeffco scores above state averages in CSAP scores while Denver struggles. So naturally the needs of students are bound to be different. Jeffco has done its best to stay in front of the curve through the years. For example, the district’s Performance Promise several years ago gained national attention for tying disbursement of funding to CSAP score benchmarks, a plan that involved a partnership with some of the county’s best businesspeople and attracted deserved national coverage.
Once again, the challenge of adopting performance pay triggers a business world aspect that goes against recent practice. Decades ago, the single-salary schedule was adopted to promote equality in education, and teachers were encouraged to further move up in pay grade by seeking advanced degrees. This parallels the world of education, where teachers are relatively equal and aim to give students an equal shot: Do the homework, study well, get the grades and watch doors open. This contrasts life outside the academic world where many other factors, such as who you know and ingenious ambition, snap into play.
So we have seen that Jeffco can interact with business, and we think this bodes well for the district as it sizes up the best way to institute more performance-based compensation for teachers. Surely there will be challenges. How does the district make sure it is targeting the most important needs? Will the district be able to offer performance pay incentives to all the teachers, regardless of the courses they teach? How will it measure and administer the changes?
From what we have heard so far, we like the fact that the district wants to measure improvement for performance pay in terms of the betterment of the students. And we are less concerned about the semantics of the whole process whether we are talking about “merit-in- pay” or “performance pay.” But bottom line, we support Stevenson’s pushback when she says she will listen to everyone but focus on the Jeffco vision for progress. While the district hits a snag in other areas from time to time, its fortitude to obtain results in the classroom has been skillful and sound.