2 schools' teachers get test-score pay; Expand LR incentives backers say

by Charlotte Tubbs

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Saturday, June 17, 2006

Supporters of a pilot teacher incentive pay program called for its expansion into more schools Friday as faculty and staff from two Little Rock schools celebrated $429,226 in bonuses they received because of student progress. 

At Wakefield Elementary, where Friday’s news conference was held, students improved by 26 percent on a standardized test they took to measure their progress, while students at Meadowcliff Elementary improved by 40 percent. 

Roy Brooks, superintendent of the Little Rock School District, called the student improvement “compelling proof” for continuing Teacher Incentive Projects — bonuses to staff based on student achievement. 

“This investment is not just about the checks we passed out today,” Brooks said. “This investment is about our future.” 

Thirty-four classroom teachers received bonuses ranging from $3,700 to $9,200 while 64 certified and classified staff received a total of $199,426. Only employees who worked at the schools for the entire 2005-06 school year received bonuses. 

The incentive program was quietly started in the 2004-05 school year at Meadowcliff Elementary with support from the Public Education Foundation of Little Rock and funding from the Hussman Foundation, which was established by Walter E. Hussman Jr., publisher of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. 

This past school year, the Little Rock district funded the Meadowcliff bonuses and the Hussman Foundation funded the Wakefield bonuses. 

State Education Commissioner Ken James said he wants to expand the teacher incentive project to other parts of the state and encouraged those in attendance to talk with their legislators to solicit state funding for it. 

Gubernatorial candidate and Attorney General Mike Beebe and Susan Hutchinson, wife of gubernatorial hopeful Asa Hutchinson, both spoke in support of the incentive program as well. 

Katherine Wright Knight, president of the Little Rock Classroom Teachers Association, said in a phone interview she has several concerns about the incentive project and would rather see an acrossthe-board raise for teachers. 

She said while she is “always happy to see teachers and support staff get a reward for hard work,” she questioned using a standardized test as the only measure of student progress. 

She also said that there is no research showing that incentive programs are effective in the long run and pointed out that Meadowcliff students’ improvements recognized by the incentive program in 2004-05 were not reflected in the scores that Meadowcliff pupils earned on the state-mandated Benchmark Exam scores. 

Meadowcliff was put on the state’s school improvement list for the first time in 2005 because student scores didn’t meet minimums set by the state. Benchmark scores from the 2005-06 school year are due for release this summer. 

EXPANDING THE PROGRAM 

Hussman said Friday that he hoped the district would fund Wakefield bonuses next year, which Brooks said the district is “positioning” itself to do. 

Brooks said three private donors, including the Hussman Foundation, have committed to funding three additional schools to participate in the incentive program. 

The Hussman Foundation would fund Mabelvale Elementary School; the Brown Foundation of Houston, which principally supports education community service and the arts, would fund Geyer Springs Elementary School; and the Walton Family Foundation of Bentonville would fund Romine Elementary School, he said. 

Brooks said that plans for expanding the program into the three additional programs should be finalized soon. 

“Based upon the evidence and proof that we have about the success of this program, I just cannot imagine this program not being expanded,” he said. 

Hussman said that the incentive program is designed to reward teachers who do an “outstanding job,” with the hopes of retaining teachers and attracting more into the profession. 

CHARTING THE PROGRESS 

Students at both schools took the national Stanford Achievement Test once at the beginning of the school year, during the week of Aug. 29, 2005, and took a different version at the end of the school year during the week of May 1, to measure their progress. 

The 387 Wakefield Elementary pupils in kindergarten through fifth grade who were present at the school for the full year scored equal to or better than 16 percent of a national sample of students who took the same test. By spring, they scored equal to or better than 32 percent of the national group. 

On the first test, Wakefield pupils scored at an average 28.66 norm curve equivalent, which is another way of reporting standardized test results that allows for calculating the percentage change of scores. On the test taken at the end of the year, the students improved to a 40.03 norm curve equivalent, or a 40 percent increase. 

The 276 Meadowcliff pupils in kindergarten through fifth grade who attended the school the full year scored equal to or better than 18 percent of a national sample group of test takers and scored 29 percent equal to or better than the sample group in the spring. These pupils scored at an average 30.81 norm curve equivalent in the fall and improved to 38.85 norm curve equivalent on the spring test, or a 26 percent increase. 

There was no control group to determine if the incentive program alone was responsible for the gains at Wakefield and Meadowcliff, but Brooks said a group from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville has offered to work with the district to establish a control group for next school year. 

Teachers used the initial test to not only measure students’ academic status at the beginning of the year, but to design a “diagnostic road map” for each student. 

At both schools, an incentive was awarded for every child who showed a gain on the national norm curve equivalent. A $400 bonus was paid for each child that showed a 15 percent improvement or more. For example, a teacher who taught 20 students who each had at least a 15 percent gain would receive $8,000. 

James, the state education commissioner, said the project demonstrated that children from low-income homes can reach higher levels of learning. 

Eighty-eight percent of Meadowcliff students are at or below the poverty level, while 91 percent of Wakefield students are at or below the poverty line. Meadowcliff is about 90 percent black and Hispanic, and Wakefield is 96 percent black and Hispanic. 

Toby Burnett, attendance secretary at Wakefield, said the bonuses were “just wonderful.” 

“I would have done this anyway, but it’s always nice to have a little bonus,” she said of her efforts to care for the students and encourage them to do their best.