Gwinnett County school administrators are moving closer to creating a new pay plan that rewards teachers for their performance, a shift from current compensation guidelines that base salary increases on tenure.
The first part of the two-part plan would take effect in August. Gwinnett would give teachers a “step”, or pay grade increase, based on how they’re rated on their evaluation, not on current factors such as longevity in the school district. Funding the new pay scale will depend largely on next year’s state and school district budgets, since most teachers would be in line for a step increase, officials said.
Gwinnett uses several factors to evaluate its teachers, such as classroom observations. Teachers rated “proficient” or better would have their pay increased one step. Those rated less than proficient would remain on the same level. Gwinnett officials said teachers would not see a pay cut under the proposed plan and it won’t change their status in the school district’s retirement plan.
Gwinnett officials said a performance pay plan will help in one area school districts struggle with — keeping good teachers.
“We think it’s a good start to move toward a performance compensation system,” said Sloan Roach, Gwinnett’s communications director. “We think it will be good to recruit and retain teachers.”
Some of Georgia’s largest teacher groups have worried performance pay plans will hurt such efforts. The Professional Association of Georgia Educators urged Gwinnett not to use standardized test data as a basis for measuring teacher performance.
“PAGE knows from our survey data that educators may be open to some pay for performance measures, but relying on student standardized test scores is wildly unpopular with educators and does a disservice to students,” said PAGE spokesman Craig Harper. “Parents and educators know that standardized test scores alone cannot paint a full portrait of what’s happening in schools.”
Gwinnett, the state's largest school district, has explored a performance pay plan for years. Gwinnett decided to work on its own plan after Gov. Nathan Deal's Education Reform Committee recommended last year developing compensation pay plans for school districts. Gwinnett Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks was a committee member.
The district is also working on a long-range plan it hopes to enact by the 2018-19 school year that would reward teachers for their performance. District officials said they are still discussing how the performance plan will work.
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