March 1 - Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools

An evaluation of teachers needs to gather factors beyond test scores, the center’s report said. It called fornumerous measurements of knowledge and skills, student growth, demonstration of leadership and teaching insubjects or in schools with higher needs.From this work, Kansas is working toward a state regulation that would create a “teacher leader license,” saidKansas Education Commissioner Alexa Posny.It’s not merit pay, but it would give teachers a chance to earn a salary more akin to an administrator, Posny said.“But they would stay in the classroom,” she said.The road is clear statutorily if Kansas school boards want to develop pay-for-performance plans, Posny said.Missouri might not be as open. State statute requires that districts abide by a “salary schedule adopted by theboard of education applicable to all teachers.”That doesn’t necessarily mean a district couldn’t negotiate a process to provide extra pay in addition to the salaryschedule, said Jacquie Shipma, an attorney for the Missouri National Education Association. But unionsprobably would challenge plans that don’t give teachers equal opportunities for the benefits.In 2005, the Missouri Court of Appeals in Kansas City ruled that the Sherwood Cass School District broke thelaw when it offered signing bonuses to seven teachers if they committed to stay at least two years.Other programs in other states have run into problems when the pool of money for extra pay was limited.Performance pay invites trouble if teachers feel as if they are competing with each other for the rewards, saidMark Desetti, director of legislative advocacy for the Kansas education association.“What we need isn’t competition but collaboration,” he said.School systems in New York and Chicago are giving the staffs of entire schools the chance to collectively earnbonuses based on school performance.Denver Public Schools have advanced to the third year in an ambitious performance pay plan that was backedby a voter-approved $25 million levy to support increased teacher salaries.The district was widely praised by teachers unions for spending several years working with educators on anelaborate evaluation process and getting broad support before going to the public.In St. Louis County, a merit-pay system has been part of the Ladue School District for more than 50 years andpredates the Missouri statute with which it would appear to conflict.The process remains popular with teachers, administrators and community members who have reviewed it inrecent years, said district spokeswoman Kathy Reznikov.