Teachers and administrators at 12 Prince George’s County schools could earn an extra $10,000 next year as part of a $17.1 million voluntary pay-for-performance program.
But while the awards will be attached to accomplishments in the classroom and schoolwide, nationwide data has yet to show such incentive programs translate to long-term gains in student achievement.
“The programs may stick around — that’s the first test — but the next is to research a link to actual student achievement,” said Steven Glazerman, a senior researcher at Mathematica Policy Research who recently co-authored a study on a similar program in Missouri.
With the five-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Prince George’s will have time to gather that data as the program expands districtwide. And in order to maintain the money, the schools are required to evaluate its effect on actual learning.
While similar grants have been awarded around the country, including in D.C. schools, they’ve often been met with fire from teachers unions fearful of unequal treatment within schools and a disincentive to collaborate with other teachers.
“The most spectacular failures have resulted when policy makers don’t involve the stakeholders in developing the program,” Glazerman said.
Prince George’s tried to combat that by including input from both the teachers and administrators unions, who started planning the program in September.
“We’ve had to express our support from the beginning,” said Donald Briscoe, teachers union president.
Acknowledging that pay raises are a constant concern for his members, Briscoe said the union needed to get creative in tight budget times.
“We’ve realized that with no money, we need to step outside of the box and see where else to get it,” Briscoe said. “And that was the federal government.”
Briscoe also brought up the pay differential between Prince George’s County and neighboring districts. At $44,200, the starting salary in Montgomery County is about $1,000 more than in Prince George’s, an amount that could now be more than made up with excellent teaching.
