Washington Co. Maryland wins $7.3 million for Teacher Reward pilot

ED.GOV Teacher Incentive Fund

Applicant Name: Board of Education of Washington County 
PR/Award #: S385A100080
State: MD
5-Year Amount: $7,351,028

Washington County Public School's (WCPS) pilot TIF program, Performance Outcomes with Effective Rewards (POWER), will be designed to reward effective teachers and school-based administrators at high-need schools who raise levels of and maintain high standards for student achievement. WCPS plans to use the 2010-11 school year as a planning year to develop and implement a performance-based compensation system (PBCS) for teachers and administrators at five of our high-need schools in Washington County, Maryland, in order to increase educator effectiveness and student achievement as measured by student growth. The pilot schools were selected based on their identification as a high-need school with 50 percent or more of its enrollment from low-income families, based on eligibility for the Free and Reduced Meals Program (FARM).

Maryland plans to pilot and implement a PBCS over the next two years, so WCPS must align the POWER program with the State department of education plan and Maryland law. Program goals and outcomes include the following:

POWER Program Goals	Short-term Outcome	Intermediate Outcome	Long-term Outcome
1) Increase teacher and administrator effectiveness, thereby improving student achievement, by offering extensive professional development	Develop a POWER professional development plan to address the specific needs of POWER teachers and administrators	Provide guidance, skills, and strategies to improve student learning and achievement	Develop, implement, and refine a comprehensive and sustainable teacher and administrator PBCS that uses a new evaluation system, resulting in improved student achievement at WCPS's high-need schools
2) Develop teacher and administrator performance-based compensation systems, so that teachers and administrators are rewarded for student growth	Develop a formula for providing monetary incentives based on pre- and post-assessment tools
3) Increase the number of effective teachers teaching low-income and disadvantaged students in high-need schools and hard-to-staff subjects	Develop a staffing strategic plan designed to recruit and support effective teachers willing to work in high-need schools and in hard-to staff subjects	Provide pay incentives to teachers and administrators working and teaching in high-need schools and in hard-to staff subjects	Attract, develop, and retain high qualified effective teachers and administrators to improve student achievement in high need schools