Teachers at 6 LR schools OK pilot merit-pay plans

by Cynthia Howell

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Friday, September 15, 2006

A majority of teachers at six Little Rock elementary schools voted this week to participate in pilot merit-pay plans that are based on student test score gains. 

The elections, which took place Monday and Tuesday, are the first held in the district since the Little Rock Classroom Teachers Association and the Little Rock School Board agreed last summer to lower the threshold for approving alternative pay plans. 

Previously, alternative compensation plans required 75 percent of teachers at an affected school to approve the plan. The 2006-07 teacher contract, ratified earlier this summer, requires approval of a simple majority, or more than half, of all teachers participating in a school election. 

Twenty-six Meadowcliff Elementary teachers, 100 percent of those who voted, approved the continuation of the merit-pay plan that is now in its third year at the school. While only teachers participated in the election, all certified and noncertified staff members are eligible for bonuses based on the achievement gains of students with whom they have contact. 

At Wakefield Elementary, 79 percent of the teachers voted to proceed with a merit-pay system similar to what was in place last year at the school. The vote was 23-6. 

The vote was the same at Mabelvale Elementary, 23-6. This will be the first year for the merit-pay system at that school, as well as at Geyer Springs Elementary, where 90 percent of the teachers voted to participate, 19-2. At Romine Elementary, also a school new to the program, 66 percent of teachers voted in favor, 20-10, with two people abstaining. 

At Meadowcliff, the pay plan will be based on the student gains on the Stanford Achievement Test, 10th edition, the same as last year. That is being done to have some consistent data, Little Rock Deputy Superintendent Hugh Hattabaugh said Thursday. 

The Iowa Test of Basic Skills, a test required by state law to be given to all Arkansas students in kindergarten through ninth grade, will be the basis for any teacher and staff bonuses given at Wakefield, Mabelvale, Geyer Springs and Romine. 

The bonuses at Meadowcliff and Wakefield are being funded by the district while bonuses at the schools new to the programs will be funded by philanthropic foundations. 

Eighty-eight percent of teachers at Rockefeller Elementary School voted Monday to continue participation in a different alternative pay plan, the Teacher Advancement Program. That national model, developed by the Milken Family Foundation of California, organizes faculty in a way that experienced teachers can take on added job responsibilities and earn higher salaries without moving into administration. The plan also has a bonus pay component based on test scores. 

Rockefeller teachers voted on continuation last spring but narrowly missed the 75 percent pass rate. As the result of teacher contract negotiations this summer, the Rockefeller teachers were permitted to re-vote using the simple majority. 

The total number of Little Rock schools trying out the pilot incentive pay plans is seven. Stephens Elementary School also uses the Teacher Advancement Program, the continuation of which was approved by teachers last spring using the 75 percent requirement. 

“Everybody is ready to move ahead,” Hattabaugh said now that the elections have been completed. 

Data from the pilot plans will be reviewed by a district task force that is to be formed to make recommendations on a long-term merit-pay system for the district. That committee, which is still being formed, is expected to begin work in October. Researchers at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville also will evaluate the pilot schools.