Using Incentives for Students, Teachers, and Schools to Improve Performance and Accountability
Incentives for Students:
Among other reforms centered on standards, accountability, and assessment, the
Georgia Assembly established a requirement that all students pass a new set of
tests to receive a high school diploma in 1991.
The new Georgia High School Graduation Tests differ from the previously required Basic Skills Test in that they include not only the areas of reading, writing, and mathematics, but also social studies and science. Furthermore, the law requires that the new tests "include process and application skills as assessed in a range of academic content, and shall exceed minimum and essential skills by extending the assessments' range of difficulty." (Georgia Department of Education)
According
to the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) report Making Standards Matter 1997, Georgia is one of 13 states that will require students to pass exams based on 10th grade standards or higher. In fact, Georgia students will be assessed in the four core subjects from material covered in the 9th, 10th, and 11th-grade Quality Core Curriculum, which was revised during 1997. According to
the AFT, Georgia is only one of 20 states that will have graduation exams
linked to their standards and is one of fewer than ten states that will require
students to meet standards in all four core subjects.
Incentives for Teachers: Reform efforts in North Carolina have focused on improving the quality of teachers by investing in recruitment and increasing teachers' salaries, improving the quality of teacher education training programs by requiring professional accreditation, strengthening licensing requirements, and offering mentoring programs for beginning teachers. In addition to these efforts, North Carolina launched an extensive incentive program for experienced teachers to receive advanced certification through the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards:
State legislation provides support to teachers seeking advanced certification offered through the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) chaired by Governor James B. Hunt, Jr. For state-paid teachers with a clear license and a minimum of three years teaching experience in North Carolina, the State will:
- Pay the $2000 assessment fee for eligible teachers,
- Provide up to three days of paid release time to candidates,
- Grant renewal credit for those teachers completing all components of the portfolio assessment within the funded assessment cycles, and
- Pay National Board Certified Teachers a salary differential [separate salary schedule] of 12% of their state salary for the life of the Certificate [10 years]. (North Carolina Department of Education)
Since introducing these changes, "North Carolina has posted among the largest student achievement gains in mathematics and reading of any state in the nation, now scoring well above the national average in 4th grade reading and mathematics, although it entered the 1990s near the bottom of the state rankings." (Darling-Hammond, 1997, p.11) The state boasts the largest number of National Board Certified Teachers and is "home to 207" of them.
Certainly many factors have contributed to the achievement gain. The number of board certified teachers and the even greater number of teachers who have gone through the rigorous national board certification process also contribute to this gain.
Incentives for Schools: The South Carolina School Incentive Reward Program began in 1984 and was part of the Education Improvement Act of 1984 that initiated a complex accountability system, which included merit pay for teachers and principals. These two elements (merit pay for teachers and principals) are no longer part of South Carolina's program. The state concluded that it was too difficult to judge teacher merit and that the principal incentives were driven by "building a file that showed what they did, but did not prove quality." What did survive was the School Incentive Reward Program, which provides funds to schools with exceptional or improved student performance on two statewide assessments: one norm, the other criterion-referenced. In addition, districts receive an incentive reward if two-thirds of their schools qualify. The program has evolved to reflect changes in the state's education reform agenda, as enacted in the 1989 legislation, Target 2000, South Carolina's master plan for maintaining public education reform through the end of this century.
To qualify for a reward, schools must post one-year growth or meet the standard for state improvement on the state's tests. State and nationally normed tests are used in grades 3 - 11 in reading, mathematics, language, writing, and science (not all in every grade). Ninety-eight percent of students must be included, and schools are awarded based on either a formula that allocates schools to one of four different percentile ranges (95 or higher, 90-94, 26-89, or 6-25) or whether the school's gain has been equal to or greater than the 65th state percentile rank for three years.
In 1997 - 1998, 291 out of 1,015 schools received a reward ranging from $2,800 to $72,400 on a per student basis. District rewards are $2 per pupil. While the typical amount per school is relatively small, about $15,000-25,000, schools are free to use the money for any "instructional program" enhancement chosen by a local School Improvement Council, with the exception of salary supplements or replacement of district funds: "The door is wide open, schools can purchase PE equipment, computers and software, furniture, decorative murals;" schools are also given recognition by the superintendent and a flag signifying their award. According to John Suber, a staff member in the South Carolina State Department of Education, the program has lasted because the money is given to the school as a community who then decides how it will be spent to improve their students' educational program.
Darling-Hammond, L. (1997). Doing what matters most: Investing in quality teaching. Kutztown, PN: The National Commission on Teaching and America's Future.
Gandal, M. (1997). Making standards matter 1997: An annual fifty-state report on efforts to raise academic standards. Washington, DC: American Federation of Teachers.
Georgia Department of Education. (1998). Georgia high school graduation tests. Available on-line: <http://www.doe.k12.ga.us/sla/ret/ghsgtabout.html>.
North Carolina Department of Education. (1998). Financial and personnel services. Available on-line: <http://www.dpi.state.nc.us/nbpts/>.
