Knowledge and Skill Based Pay in Wisconsin Greendale School District 2002 National Conference on Teacher Compensation and Evaluation Chicago, IL November.

Knowledge and Skill Based Pay in Wisconsin

Greendale School District

2002 National Conference on Teacher Compensation and

Evaluation

Chicago, IL

November 21, 2002

Why a Pay for Learning Plan?

“Strong communities, with people banded and pulling together are our

last line of defense against the breakdown of families and society.

When people see that the schools are serving their purposes, they tend to

see them as their schools.”

--Dr. Stewart in Is There a Public for Public Schools?

Why: Pay for Learning?

• We need ways to recognize teacher leaders.

• We need to acknowledge early adopters and hard workers with real $.

• We need to support district change efforts and behave our talk = Higher Student Achievement.

• “What is valued is attended to.” - T Sergiovani

The Foundation of Pay for Learning

• Highly Skilled Faculty and Leadership.• A community gets the kind of schools it wants.• Relationships that are Real. Based on trust and

mutual risk taking.• Do taxpayers really want to invest in the schools?• Do schools really reflect what the community

wants them to be?

Working in Partnership to Ratchet Learning

Greendale School District & Greendale Education Association working in partnership to recognize learning and performance for faculty.

A pilot partnership known as Pay for Learning to support learning iniatives and receive credit for salary advancement.

Knowledge and Skill Based PayKnowledge based compensation

systems provide a way to link pay to knowledge and skills desired of staff.

- Reward teachers from fixed pool of funds.- Supplement traditional salary schedule.- Recognize strategies & programs to boost achievement- Push District reforms and recognize commitment.- Reenergize staff at top of salary schedule.- Recognize and develop leadership in schools.

Working Together for Organizational Learning

Experimental in nature to determine alternative methods to promote

learning, leadership, and professional growth.

A recommendation will be made by both parties to the negotiation committee to revise, continue, or terminate the pilot

project.

Bargaining Greendale Style!

Nontraditional and relationship oriented.Limited caucuses, clear agenda, and time limits while

looking for shared ground.Regular meet and confer sessions to map out issues,

beliefs, commonalities, and differences.We are all in this together: Yesterday, today and

tomorrow.Share meals, common interests and child focused.Willing to try new things and a belief in the future

together!

Example of “Collaboration”

• Board & Exec Team Involvement is important because each member brings a diverse background to the position. Each has a different sphere of influence in the community and are opinion leaders. It is important that they are visible and interact with each other and their organizations in relevant ways.

What does it really take to build Board, Administrative and Faculty support?

• For:– Higher educational

performance from students…

– More satisfied citizens and taxpayers…

– Greater community support…

– A Learning Community that talks practice…

• You must attain:– Commitment of school

board & Exec. Board.

– Leadership of administrators & Association Leaders.

– Razor focus on learning, achievement, and results. Test scores are rising!

Developing Pay for Learning

• Use existing resources to incorporate Pay for Learning in your District.

• Identify key employees or volunteers within your organization. Develop their interests and implement the strategies.

• Recruit from within your district. Look for individuals with leadership ability or risk takers.

• Help all staff members to become learners and recognize baby steps.

Growing Your Own• “Grow” your people! Every school district

has someone who wants to improve their skills and apply those skills to improve the school district.

• Use a collaboration model to develop leadership in everyone.

• Encourage membership in organizations, on committees, and conference attendance.

Growing Your Own

• Train your District leaders. Collaboration, Listening and New ways of thinking.– Relationships are the ability to accomplish a task.

• Be an ambassador for your organization and try to find a way to say “Yes!”

• Accurate internal communication and anticipation of barriers is key. Look for the third way!

Getting Started in Pay for Learning

Identify the best practices of collaboration.

Compare those methods to the negotiation efforts in your school district.

Develop a “gap” analysis to identify areas where your district and employees can improve your bargaining efforts.

Begin small and create escape hatches!

Drafting Your Pay for Learning Plan

• Determine a plan of action of what to do next.• Determine an effective method of measurement and

evaluation of the things we already do to connect with key stakeholders.

• Determine a base line measurement of key stakeholders’ attitudes and beliefs about the school district.

• Steal good processes and reinvent to local needs.

Ways to Accumulate Credit

• District Leadership - staff development, technology, vertical teams, action research.

• District Learning - Academies, curriculum and teaching initiatives

• Professional Collaboration - Planning, leading or facilitating workshops, classes, etc.

• New Teacher Mentoring

• Administrative Work aligned with District Efforts.

Learning Steering Committee

• Team of 2 administrators and 2 Curriculum Facilitators (Teacher Leaders).

• Meet monthly under direction of Superintendent.• Reviews, approves, and deny participation.• Decision based on majority vote, not subject to

grievance.• Appeal Process based on process in contract to

settle disputes within GSD.

Lessons Learned from Research

Start with the need for continuous, focused learning - Matched to District Initiatives.

Adapt external standards or existing model. Use CPRE - We did and it works!

Understand it is hard to get all of the details right the first time.

Teachers must participate in the design process.

Lessons Learned From Research

Be prepared for initial stress reaction from teachers, administrators and board members.

Prepare Principals for the nature of the lack of direct control of the program.

Communication with Staff is essential - Administrators, Teachers - helping them to get started with improving their skills and knowledge.

Use transition strategies to reduce uncertainty.Align HR & Evaluation System to skill based

framework.

Lessons Learned From Practice

Establish Steering Committee and fill with leaders and creative thinkers.

Over communicate with staff.Understand mistakes will be made and fix

them as the pilot process goes along.Implement with a letter of understanding and

a sunset clause rather than binding contract language.

Lessons Learned From Practice

Pay for Learning should target specific District Projects such as writing efforts, student assessment work, technology, etc.

Participants in the first year of implementation are high fliers in District.

Cap funding of project to provide check points to reevaluate or revise as experience dictates.

Prepare for disgruntled staff and administrators that do not support or wish to participate and prefer the standard salary schedule.

Lessons Learned From Practice

Create paperwork and forms to document work to date.

Understand that this pilot program will be part of the next bargaining process.

Pay for Learning is not a substitute for adequate base pay and does not represent cost saving. - It is redeployment of resources in support of student learning.

This is a work in progress and subject to revision!

Lessons Learned from Practice

The real amount of success and acceptance may not be evident till year 2 or 3. Reluctant colleagues are just now asking about how to become involved.

Working in a team outside bargaining enhances communication and creativity. It makes for cover to grow ideas.

Avoid pre-approved projects, regardless of how strongly the team believes in the district initiative.

Role of Association & Bargaining• Changes in compensation likely to be

subject of collective bargaining– CPRE Policy Brief, November 2001

• Traditional bargaining replaced by win-win or collaborative bargaining;

• Reshape policies and actions to accommodate and satisfy those concerns - usually through a work team.

Costs of Knowledge and Skill Program

• Difficult to determine. Capped @ $30,000.

• Likely to increase over time.

• No administrative costs - other than time.

• Possible Professional Development Cost increase - Training!

• Requires time, patience and effort from Pay for Learning Team.

• Recognize mistakes will be made.

• Use Pilot Process One year Review - Upgrade or Discard.

Compensation

• 15 hours @ 18.80 = 282.00• 15 hrs = $300 or 1 GSD

credit.• 30 hrs = $600 or 2 GSD

credits• 150 hrs = $3000 or 10

GSD credits.Any credit shall be paid in

subsequent contracts regardless if program continues.

GSD & GEA agreed to limit participation should project exceed $30,000.

Payment to be made upon completion of project.

Funding was limited yet enough to generate “interest.”

Staff Survey A Work in Progress

• Responses to be based on a continuum: strongly agree to strongly disagree.– Faculty Engagement

– Fiscal Accountability

– Administrative Issues

– Sources of Information

• We know that we need to make a better effort to continually connect with our faculty - especially our reluctant colleagues.

Pay for Learning Told Us...• Thank you school board &

GEA Leadership for having the guts to do this kind of Learning Support.

• Greendale can afford to support organizational learning.

• Compensation efforts can develop at the local level based on research and best practices.

27% participating in program

Questions for Pay for Learning to Boost Student Learning

• Challenges:– Need to understand that it is not scientific.– Cannot prevent mistakes - Be creative, and fix them.– Cannot control the reluctant colleagues who doubt

value of project and are angry at salary schedule being frozen.

– Customizing learning to reenergize staff rather than just high fliers.

– Researching the next projects - the work doesn’t end!– An even number of members of the Steering

Committee forces consensus - a good thing…

Questions to Consider:

• Can Pay for Learning increase public financial support for public schools?

• Can improved relationships with the school board improve community, association and school board relationships?

• What changes in the process are needed to make Pay for Learning a useful program?

• Does Pay for Learning accommodate individuals who struggle with new efforts or have been burned in the past?

Find out more about the Pay for Learning Project

• Visit Greendale and talk to the teachers participating. www.greendale.k12.wi.us

• Read CRPRE and implement it. It’s in your handout! We did and it works. Talk to Dr. Odden!

• Start collaborating and stop negotiating. • Find a way to work with the union professional.

They have the skills and the interest.• Reward your high fliers and take a risk.• Remember, we are about students and learning.

Is Pay for Learning Worth the Effort?

• Board Members, Administrators, & Association Leaders need to do a better job of educating the public and faculty about compensation methods. Leadership is reflective of the community’s ideals.

• Using Pay for Learning is another way of helping us communicate we are serious about learning and alternative compensation.

• We are focused on real change and want to support all staff ready to step up on district efforts.

“Come on out for the Rising” Bruce Springsteen

2002 “If you are performing new work you

can find your profession again or for the first time.” - Bill Hughes