Panel says pay teachers for performance

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By Dan Gearino | Saturday, November 11, 2006 1:03 AM CST | () comments

DES MOINES — A consulting firm hired by the state is recommending the state try out a new teacher pay system that allows for big raises for the best teachers and ties pay to student performance.

The first draft of the recommendations was released Friday by the Institute for Tomorrow’s Workforce, just three days after a landmark election that virtually eliminates the chance of the Legislature putting the recommendations into action.

Iowa Democrats, who will now control the executive and legislative branches of government, are skeptical of any change to the structure of the teacher-pay system. Democratic Governor-elect Chet Culver is a former teacher who opposes tying pay directly to performance.

The report by a consulting firm, Learning Point Associates, offers new ideas on teacher pay.

“The point being expressed (is the desire to) get away from the current single salary schedule wherein teachers are paid by years of experience or college credits beyond a bachelor’s degree,” said James Guthrie, director of an education policy center at Vanderbilt University.

Guthrie helped write the report for the consulting firm.

The Institute for Tomorrow’s Workforce, a state-funded panel, will discuss the report at a meeting next week and will have the chance to revise the findings. The institute hired Learning Point Associates to produce the report.

In addition to the political changes from the election, there is legal uncertainty about the institute’s work.

Gov. Tom Vilsack assigned the institute to work on a teacher-pay plan after he vetoed a Republican proposal to convene a different panel to study the issue. Attorney General Tom Miller has said Vilsack misused his veto power. Republican legislators have threatened to sue to the state over the veto.

Dan Gearino can be contacted at (515) 243-0138 or dan.gearino@lee.net.

The report

A report on a new system to pay teachers in Iowa, written by a firm called Learning Point Associates, has three main recommendations:

Schools should have a career ladder for teachers, in which the best teachers can get increases in pay and responsibility without leaving the classroom. There are four rungs on the ladder, from “apprentice” to “master.”

There should be pilot projects in a small number of schools in which teacher pay is tied to evaluations or measures of student performance.

The state should study the results of the career ladder and the pilot projects to determine the effects on learning.