Press Release: Public Education Foundation of Little Rock
Monday, June 20, 2005
Teachers and Staff celebrate an overall student learning gain of 17 percent for the 2004-2005 school year as they wrap up their participation in the Foundation's experimental Student Achievement Challenge and Teacher Reward Project.
The Public Education Foundation worked in partnership with Meadowcliff Elementary during the 2004-2005 school year as they participated in an experimental teacher reward project based on nationally normed student achievement outcomes. Today, classroom teachers and staff at Meadowcliff Elementary School in Little Rock, Arkansas, received $134,800 in rewards for significant improvements in student achievement during the 2004-2005 school year. All bonuses were funded with donations provided by the Public Education Foundation of Little Rock targeted specifically for this particular project.
Today, twelve classroom teachers in kindergarten through fifth grade received a total of $65,000 in bonuses. Every teacher received a bonus with the lowest bonus of $1,800 and the highest bonus at $8,600. All other 25 school staff members that had been there throughout the year, including literacy coaches, media specialists, nutritionists and custodians were also included in the bonuses, which were tied to specific students they taught or the entire student population of the school.
Lisa Black, Executive Director, outlines "When we looked for a campus to partner for this project we looked for a cumpus that (1) was already experiencing steady and sustainable gains in learning, (2) had strong principal leadership and (3) one that clearly worked as a team with all employees at that school." The Foundation believes that leadership and learning isn't the result of one individual, but the collective commitment and responsibility of a school community to do whatever it takes to improve student learning. The quality of the principal is key to ensuring teachers in every classroom are effective, as well as, building a learning culture where teahcers and other employees assume leadership roles. There are many schools in the Little Rock School District that fit this description.
Karen Carter, Principal at Meadowcliff, clearly articulated the vision and strategy for her school that 'all children can learn'. Lisa Black continued, "Ms. Carter also is not one to stand still and wait for things to come to her. She approached the Foundation two years ago looking for ways to reward her teaching team who had seen steady student achievement progression over the last four years. At that time we did not have the funds to offer or a project methodology that had been tested. Today we do have those funds, in large part due to a Foundation donor who has a passionate belief in the value of quality teaching in our community, the understanding of the economic impact education has on Little Rock and a personal investment in the process."
Equally important, the Meadowcliff teachers and employees were willing to be the first to participate in a student performance based rewards program in the Little Rock School District. The project was developed with the input and guidance of Karen Carter, Principal of the school, as well as the school's staff and faculty. It required the use of a national normed test, in this case the SAT-9. The Meadowcliff teachers tested their students the week of August 30, 2004. Those fall test results provided two important elements: a clear measure of student learning at the beginning of the school year and a rich diagnostic roadmap that could be used for targeting instruction for each child. Teachers then tested their students the week of May 9, 2005 so that it could be determined how much learning had been gained over the course of the school year. The results of the second test not only measured each child's learning progress for the 2004-2005 school year, but will provide important educational information for students and teachers at Meadowcliff as they start school in the fall of 2005.
Using a national normal curve equivalent this resulted in a 17 percent gain for the entire school, with all staff working with multiple grades receiving the maximum bonus. Bonuses for classroom teachers varied depending on how much gain was made by each student. A bonus was awarded for every child who showed gain, on the national normal curve equivalent, with $100 bonus for a gain up to 4%, $200 for a gain from 5% to 9%, a $300 bonus for a gain from 10% to 14% and a $400 bonus for all gains over 15%. For example, a teacher who taught 20 students and all 20 had more than a 15% gain, the bonus was $8,000.
The 246 Meadowcliff Elementary students in kindergarten through fifth grade who were there for the full year scored equal to or better than 25 percent of the normed sample group of U.S. students that took the same test in the fall; and equal to or better than 35 percent of a nomed sample group of U.S. students that took the same test in the spring. These students scored at an average 35.6 normal curve equivalent (NCE) in the fall and improved to 41.5 NCE on the spring test, or a 17 percent increase.
The Foundation went on to note that significant improvements were made in the 2nd-5th grade math classes, where 177 students moved from a national percentile of 14% in the fall to 32% in the spring. The gain on the NCE was from 27.7 in the fall to 40.5 in the spring, resulting in a 46% gain. In K-2 reading, 120 students moved from a national percentile of 38% in the fall to 50% in the spring. The gain on the NCE went from 44 in the fall to 50 in the spring, resulting in a 14% increase.
Eighty-five percent of Meadowcliff Elementary students are at or below the poverty level and 86 percent are minority.
Accoring to Principal Carter, "One of the important aspects of this project was its ability to measure and celebrate each child, both those performing at below grade level, and those performing above grade level. We have never had a mechanism that provided a pre and post measure, so that we could calculate the growth of each child and the educational value added to each student. This project provided that."
Deeann Morgan, Literacy Coach at Meadowcliff said, "This was really a very positive experience and one that we and our kids felt very lucky to be part of. We all had the advantage of being able to measure and target learning needs early in the year and even better to be able to know how well our kids had done at the end of the year. It truly takes a team to make it happen...to the cafeteria worker making sure every one has a good breakfast, to the librarian making certain we have challenging books for every student."
Karen Carter, Principal at Meadowcliff stated, "As a school campus we are very supportive of a project where all employees have an opportunity for a reward. We work as a team here, where everyone supports the effort and takes a special interest in our children's learning."
Larry Berkley, President of the Little Rock School Board commented that "Meadowcliff's results are very impressive and we should all applaud their students' and teachers' efforts. I think we have found that many of our schools have proven that all children can learn, regardless of the circumstances and are showing impressive progress. I want to thank the Public Education Foundation for testing a project that links performance to teacher rewards. As a District we will certainly want to study the results of this project and work with the Foundation for ways to expand it across the District. Mr. Berkley went on to say that "Meadowcliff's results indicate that the Little Rock School District can become the highest achieving urban school district in the nation. To meet that goal we shoud hope for 9% to 10% growth a year and with the 17% growth reflected in this project and at this school we know we can do it."
Luke Gordy, Executive Director of Arkansans for Education Reform, stated "This program at Meadowcliff Elementary shows the results of a value added system which tracks student improvement. The bonuses paid give recognition and reward for the positive results of teachers and staff at Meadowcliff this year. Hopefully other schools in Little Rock and around Arkansas will examine the Meadowcliff results, and if funding can be provided, adopt similar programs."
The Foundation will be working to try to expand this program within the District. The Foundation will continue to study the data and the teaching practices established at Meadowcliff and other high performing elementary schools. The Foundation feels this project established a good way of measuring and testing a method of rewarding the work of teachers. Everyone appreciates being rewarded for their work and the Foundation is hopeful that this project can grow and will encourage others to want to be a teacher and to stay in the teaching profession.
For more information, contact Lisa Black, Executive Director at lblack@fortheschools.org, or Laurie Baehr, Office Manager at lbaehr@fortheschools.org. They can also be contacted at the Public Education Foundation of Little Rock at 501-372-1461.
The Public Education Foundation of Little Rock's web site is fortheschools.org.
