Transcript Rebuilding Public Support Through Community Engagement

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 Pay
Knowledge 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