Symposium Summary
November 2009
View 2009 Symposium Report
Research suggests that teacher effectiveness represents the greatest variability in students’ progress. As teacher effectiveness improves, so do students’ ability to thrive in college, in their careers, and in life. This reality, among others, is encouraging school districts to identify teachers who are highly effective in accelerating student progress and recognize and reward the results they produce.
One of the many strategies school districts and states are considering or using to increase teacher effectiveness and student learning is the development and implementation of differentiated-compensation programs. Programs that link educators’ work, students’ performance and educator compensation go by many names. Together, they deserve careful analysis as part of the dialogue about their potential to improve teaching and student learning.
With support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the National Center on Performance Incentives, the Houston Independent School District, Battelle for Kids, and The University of Texas Institute for Public School Initiatives co-hosted a Symposium on Differentiated Compensation in Education in Houston on November 9 & 10, 2009. The Symposium provided an opportunity for national, state, and district-level education leaders, policy-makers, and “friends of education” to explore practical applications of lessons learned by districts pioneering in differentiated compensation. There is no debate that differentiating educators’ compensation evokes strong positions. The Symposium offered broad, deep and experienced-based information for attendees to use as they consider this educational improvement strategy.
Attendees
- 209 attendees representing 24 states
- District Level Administrators, Teachers, Building Level Administrators, Foundation Representatives, Union Representatives, School Board Members, State Level Officials, and others with a serious interest in the topic
Outcomes
- Investigated the desired and actual links between differentiated compensation and student academic growth with real-time results in current districts
- Strengthened attendees’ current or proposed differentiated-compensation programs via the practical takeaway of lessons learned by pioneering districts
- Enhanced the national dialogue regarding the implications of differentiated compensation
- Established collaboration and sharing of best practices among districts and others involved with differentiated-compensation programs
- Put “pay in context” with other educational improvement strategies