Moving Beyond 'Either/Or' in Professional Pay for Teachers

Although the Presidential candidates (with the exception of Senator Obama), have appeared to leave almost all education issues behind, the debate over teacher pay continues to swirl -- especially through the blogosphere. I just ran across a performance pay tit-for-tat that recently surfaced between Kevin Carey at The Quick and the Ed (hosted by EducationSector) and ‘Ed’ from AFT. This particular exchange seemed to focus mostly on the role that decent base pay plays in activating more professionally-geared and 21st-century-oriented compensation systems.

Unfortunately, much like we see in the diabolical divides between the major political parties, the education pundits continue to focus on the issues in bifurcated ways. As Mr. Carey of The Quick and the Ed concluded: “Insisting that ‘adequate base compensation’ be a prerequisite for pay for performance is, functionally, the equivalent of being against pay for peformance [sic].”

Inside and out of our Teacher Leaders Network, we are finding growing numbers of accomplished teachers who understand the important role that adequate base compensation plays in recruiting well-prepared and qualified teachers to the profession and the equally significant role that performance pay plays in identifying teaching expertise and spreading best practices throughout the education system. Our 2007 TeacherSolutions report (now in its 2nd printing) - authored by 18 outstanding teachers - lays out a performance-based compensation framework that transcends the usual “either/or” mindset that stifles progress for students and the professionals who serve them.

Beyond our targeted TeacherSolutions work, we frequently encounter the need for both a professional base pay system and performance pay within today's school districts. Here are a few examples: In one state where we are working, all of the "highly qualified" teacher education graduates from one university were snagged up by private industry because the best beginning salary school districts could offer them was $33,000. Meanwhile, they were offered over $55,000 in the private sector – a salary­ which was defined by industry recruiters as adequate base compensation. No doubt this is a good reason for teacher unions to push for adequate base compensation. In another district where we are working we have found National Board Certified Teachers who are putting in 65-hour work weeks that include after-school tutorials and who still find time to mentor student teachers for a mere $500 a year. In another district, we work with accomplished, entrepreneurial teachers have created a school-community program for at-risk students with no additional compensation whatsoever. No doubt this is a good reason for teachers to push for performance compensation. This nation of ours can afford to pay new teachers $40,000 and begin paying the most accomplished ones (who lead and spread their expertise) more than $140,000.

Thanks to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation we are now helping elevate the voices of accomplished teachers in Kansas on this matter. Their report, to be released later this spring, will offer more fresh ways of thinking about professional compensation systems that go beyond the debates that Inside-the-Beltway policy wonks and teacher unions tend to have. (We look forward to soon announcing the support of another forward-thinking foundation that seeks to extend our efforts to elevate the voices of accomplished teachers on professional compensation in another state.) We are proud to be working with growing numbers of teacher leaders, reform-minded unions, administrators, school boards, and policy leaders on advancing the profession that makes all others possible.