Texas Educator Excellence Grant (TEEG) Program: Year Three Evaluation Report
National Center on Performance Incentives
August 31, 2009
Texas committed $300 million to the Texas Educator Excellence Grant, or TEEG, merit pay program over three years. The National Center on Performance Incentives has now released a study about the impact of the TEEG program.
According to the report, there is no evidence that schools in the TEEG program experienced any systemic reduction in teacher turnover.
The report also indicates that there is no strong evidence of a systemic TEEG effect on student achievement gains.
The program is now-defunct and replaced by District Awards for Teacher Excellence, or DATE. State legislators have provided DATE, another merit pay program, nearly $200 million annually.
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National Education Association Report
Rankings and Estimates
Rankings of the States 2006 and Estimates of School Statistics 2007
Copyright 2007 by the National Education Association
According to the report, the national average schoolteacher salary for 2005-2006 was 49,026. State average public schoolteacher salaries ranged from those in California ($59,825), Connecticut ($59,304) and the District of Columbia ($59,000) at the high end to South Dakota ($34,709), North Dakota ($37,764) and West Virginia ($38,284) at the low end.
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NEA Website
School Employee Compensation and Student Outcomes
Washington State Institute for Public Policy
Report to the Join Task Force on Basic Education Finance
December 2007
The 2007 Washington State Legislature created the Join Task Force on Basic Education Finance. The Task Force, includes two alternates; five gubernatorial appointments, including the Chair; and the Superintendent of Public Instruction. The Legislature also directed the Washington State Institute for Public Policy to provide three reports to the Task Force. This report, the second of the three, examines options for allocating school employee compensation that are research-proven. Among its findings, the Institute concludes:
There is no consistent relationship between teachers with graduate degrees and increased student outcomes.
In the first few years on the job, a teacher gains significantly in her or his ability to improve the academic performance of students. The effect increases rapidly in years one to five and then begins to level off.
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2008 Presidential Candidates' Positions on Teacher Pay
Educator Compensation Institute
August 13, 2007
The Educator Compensation Institute has released its initial report about the 2008 Presidential Candidates' positions on teacher and administrator pay, including merit pay, pay-for-performance, and other related issues.
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The Promises and Pitfalls of Alternative Teacher Compensation Approaches
Debbi C. Harris, Ph.D.
The Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice
www.greatlakescenter.org
What is the "best" way to pay teachers? Few policy makers are pleased with the current system, but attempts to move toward merit pay have largely been short-lived and unsuccessful. While there is no perfect teacher compensation system, research evidence can help policy makers choose and adapt a plan likely to work well within a particular context. Critics of both traditional compensation and newer alternatives are quick to point out the strengths of the system they support, but the limitations of individual systems are frequently misunderstood or unrecognized. To improve the viability of a new plan, policy makers and stakeholders should conduct extensive analysis before implementation.
Specifically, when considering an alternative compensation system, it is recommended that policy makers:
Assess the district's or state's goals. Goals should be identified and prioritized.
Determine whether and how new financial incentives might help meet these goals, whether it is feasible to motivate teachers to pursue a particular goal, and whether factors in the compensation system are aligned with existing programs.
Design a compensation system aligned with intentions. Choices among teacher compensation systems involve variable cost, complexity, and tradeoffs; each alternative has unique advantages and challenges. In addition, the political context within which the system will operate must be considered, especially whether there will be long-term political and financial support.
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