DPS Teacher-Pay System Likely Boosting Student Achievement, Study Finds
By Yesenia Robles
Denver Post, CO
October 19, 2011
Researchers have completed a three-year study of Denver Public Schools’ pay-for-performance system, finding that at least two bonuses available to teachers correlate to improved student test scores.
But more important, the researchers say, ProComp has propelled infrastructure reforms such as changes in recruitment practices and new data-gathering methods that together likely have helped improve student achievement.
University of Colorado Denver and University of Washington Bothell researchers worked on the study together. They looked at statistical data but also interviewed and surveyed teachers, principals and district administrators.
One of the measures linked to improved test scores needs — and deserves — improvement, the researchers said.
To receive an additional bonus under the ProComp system, teachers must meet “student growth objectives” they set for pupils each year.
The study found that teachers who participated in ProComp didn’t necessarily set more rigorous student-performance objectives but that if they did, they were slightly more likely to meet them.
On average, the effectiveness of teachers who earned that bonus — and those who didn’t — was equivalent to the difference in effectiveness between a first-year teacher and a second- or third-year teacher.
The study recommends more consistency in determining how teachers meet their goals and suggests that teachers believe they need additional support to do it.
The ProComp system is already in the process of changing with the implementation of the district’s evaluation-and-support system, known as LEAP, now being tested in 94 percent of DPS schools.
The study also confirmed the success of another district goal in implementing the ProComp system, finding that DPS has retained, on average, 160 more teachers each year since the system began in 2006.
But lead UCD researcher Robert Reichardt said a lack of communication and understanding among the general public, and among teachers in training, has kept the system from improving recruitment.
New teachers are automatically placed in the ProComp system, while existing teachers have had multiple opportunities to opt in. More than 80 percent of DPS teachers participate in ProComp.
Dan Goldhaber, a UW researcher, said he believes that overall, ProComp has had a positive effect.
