BY DANA DiFILIPPO
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Cincinnati Public Schools teachers who help students significantly improve their proficiency scores and stay in school will receive a lot more than parents' appreciation.
They could get up to $1,400 a year in bonuses.
Under a plan jointly proposed by the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers and district administrators, schools that meet improvement targets would receive School Incentive Awards -- $1,400 for each full-time teacher or administrator and $700 for each full-time, non-teaching staffer.
"Teachers are working harder than ever before. Our goal is not to try to make everybody run faster, but to get them to run smarter and more collaboratively," CFT President Tom Mooney said.
"By raising the stakes, we'll make teachers more impatient to tear down barriers to achievement -- like discipline problems, logistical problems or a colleague who's not pulling his weight." The awards -- estimated to cost $400,000 the first year -- would be funded through outside sources. Mr. Mooney and CPS Superintendent J. Michael Brandt plan to solicit money from corporate and community groups, foundations and state and federal sources.
If CFT and school board members approve the plan, it would be implemented this fall. It would be subject to renegotiation in two years.
To win the awards, schools would have to significantly improve proficiency test scores, reduce dropout rates in grades seven to 12, increase student and staff attendance and decrease student transfers from magnet schools to neighborhood schools.
Because some schools have high mobility rates, only students who remain in a school for most of the year will count in determining whether a school meets its targets.
"If it produces results, it's money well spent, an investment in our children," school board president Arthur Hull said.
Similar programs have been successful in Dallas, South Carolina's Charlotte-Mecklenburg and Kentucky.
The plan prompted praise from one parent.
"I'm always for teachers who work hard and get results to get rewards," said Stan Corkin, a father of two from Clifton and a Coalition for an Accountable School Board (CASB) member. "It sounds like a good plan."
But another parent was skeptical.
"It's predictable what schools will get the awards," said Barb Boylan, a Clifton mother and CASB member, referring to Walnut Hills High School and other high-performing schools. "These awards may be incentive for teachers to get bumped into those schools." Administrators have been struggling for years with strategies to improve frustratingly low student achievement. In some schools, less than 10 percent of students pass all sections of state proficiency tests.
