Race to the Top

Performance Pay Plan 2010-2011

FAQ Sheet

What is the performance pay plan for 2010-2011?
Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS), in collaboration with the United Teachers of Dade (UTD), have developed a plan that includes four avenues by which teachers may earn a performance pay award. The opportunity at each Avenue is described below:

• Avenue A is based on a school wide performance and all instructional staff may qualify to earn one share.
• Avenue B is core content area specific awards and instructional staff in Reading/Language Arts/Social Studies and Math/Science may qualify to earn one share.
• Avenue C is specifically for Reading/Language Arts or Math teachers. Teachers may qualify to earn one share if 90 percent of more of their students make learning gains. If a teacher qualifies for both Reading/Language Arts and Math only one share is earned.
• Avenue D is specific to Reading/Language Arts or Math teachers. Teacher average learning gains for three years will be computed and distributed across the 6 regions. The top 10 teachers, in Reading/Language Arts and Math, per region will receive awards.

Who will be eligible?

• Teachers must hold a valid Florida Professional Educators Certificate, a Florida Educator’s Certificate, or a Statement of Status of Eligibility to be eligible for a performance pay award
• Teachers must work for at least 99 days or a “good year” to be eligible for any performance pay award
• Teachers must be assigned to school sites work locations in order to be eligible for a performance pay award. (District and Region assigned teachers are ineligible)

What are the specific qualifying criteria for Avenue A and Avenue B?
Avenue A: School-wide – All instructional staff qualify to earn one share if:

• The school is or remains an “A” school or improves in FCAT letter grade, or
• The school remains a “B” or “C” school but improves in overall FCAT points, or
• The school remains a “D” school but improves in proficiency points (both reading and mathematics), or
• The school remains a “D” school but improves in the percentage of subgroups meeting AYP(or remains at 100% meeting AYP), or
• A K-1, K-2 or K-3 school improves in median SAT-10 percentile. – The median percentile is computed across all grade levels. If school is missing prior year data, credit will be given if both the Reading and Mathematics percentiles are greater than 50.

Avenue B: Content Area With-in School - All instructional staff within the content area qualify to earn one share if:

• The Mathematics/Science teachers are eligible if the school improves in Mathematics proficiency, increases the percent of student showing learning gains, or increases in performance for students in the lowest 25 percent.
• The Reading/Language Arts/Social Studies teachers are eligible if the school improves in Reading proficiency, increases the percent of student showing learning gains, or increases in performance for students in the lowest 25 percent.

What is the share value for Avenues A, B and C?
The value of a share will be determined using the following formula:

• Total number of Shares in Avenues A, B, and C / Total amount of funds available.

The share value for Avenues 1, 2, and 3 is approximately $500.

What are the awards for Avenue D?
Awards for top preforming teachers in each region of the six regions are:

• Position 1 = $25,000
• Position 2 = $12,000
• Position 3 = $8,000
• Positions 4-10 = $4,000

If I have only been teaching in a subject area for less than three years do I qualify for Avenue D?
No, a teacher must have three years of learning gains data in the specific subject area to qualify for an award in Avenue D.

How will learning gains be computed?
Students make learning gains by any of one of the following methods:

1. Improving by one or more FCAT achievement levels
2. Maintaining FCAT achievement levels 3, 4, or 5
3. For students at achievement levels 1 or 2, showing more than one year’s growth on FCAT Developmental Scale Scores (DSS)

Do retained students affect a teacher’s learning gains?
In order for a retained student to make learning gains they must either increase their achievement level or maintain if Level 3, 4 or 5.

Are ESE students who took the alternative test included in a teacher’s learning gains?
No, not for 2010-2011. Only students with FCAT scores will be counted towards a teacher’s qualification for an award.

How many students does a teacher need to be included in Avenue C or Avenue D?
A teacher needs to have at least 10 students with two years of FCAT data to be qualified for Avenues C and D.

What is the source of the data used to generate the teacher learning gains?
The data will come from the teacher and student course file. Students that have been scheduled for each course and teacher will be used for the computation. The data will be based on the end of year course file.

Do teachers in grades K-3 qualify for any shares?
Yes, in Avenue A and Avenue B.

Do counselors, media specialists, art, music and PE teachers qualify for an award?
Yes, in Avenue A.

Do Reading or Math Coaches qualify for any shares?
Yes, in Avenue A. Additionally, if a Reading or Math Coach has a course assignment with more than 10 students, they may qualify for Avenues B, C, and D.

Which of the High School Grading System components are included as part of this performance pay plan?
The 2010-2011 performance pay plan is based solely upon the Spring 2011 FCAT data (first 800 points).

Is the 2010-2011 IPEGS evaluation considered in the performance pay qualification criteria?
No, for the 2010-2011 performance pay plan, only FCAT data is used to make award determinations.

Will performance pay be implemented for the 2011-2012 school year? If so, will the criteria remain the same?
Performance pay will be implemented for the 2011-2012 school year. The criteria for the 2011-2012 performance pay plan will be negotiated with the UTD during the school year.