Not interested

Virginia's new teacher merit-pay plan for 2011-2012 is proving unpopular among eligible schools. According to the Department of Education, only 10 out of 169 eligible schools applied for the $3 million in state performance-pay funding.

Gov. McDonnell launched the Virginia Performance-Pay Incentives initiative in April; the program will award bonuses of up to $5,000 to teachers in "hard-to-staff" schools.

"In the long term, the results of these pilot programs will tell us a lot about the potential for performance pay to improve teacher quality and raise student achievement," McDonnell said.

But a significant number of schools want no part in the program.

Barbara Coyle, executive director of the Virginia School Boards Association, said that some schools are hesitant to use million of dollars in state funds when the money could be better used elsewhere. Some districts would prefer to hire new teachers or fund new educational programs.

"Some school boards and superintendents don't want to go that route. They've seen research in that area where it hasn't significantly impacted instruction," Coyle said.

Fairfax County is one of the districts that have spoken out against the program. According to Superintendent Jack D. Dale, Fairfax County attempted to use a merit-based pay program in the 1980s, but it resulted in high costs and skewed teacher evaluations.

"We are not planning to apply for any pay-for-performance grants," Dale told The Washington Post in April. "We previously had a performance-pay system in Fairfax that was ultimately not successful."

"My instinct is simply that [districts] don't like change and that teacher organizations are highly sensitive to it," said Chris Braunlich, vice president of the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. "It's a boat that school systems don't want to rock."

Schools that met the June 15 deadline for the cash incentives are from Accomack, Caroline, Dinwiddie, Goochland, Greensville and Patrick Counties and the city of Roanoke.

The Virginia Performance-Pay Incentives initiative is the central piece in McDonnell's "Opportunity to Learn" education-reform agenda. The performance-pay program targeted 56 school districts that have had difficulty finding and keeping exemplary teachers.

"Teachers who make a commitment to students in hard-to-staff urban and rural schools, despite circumstances that often prompt colleagues to seek assignments elsewhere, deserve our admiration," McDonnell said.

Participating schools are required to create a teacher-evaluation system using performance standards approved by the Board of Education. Forty percent of the teacher evaluations are based on student growth measurements. Districts can choose to reward all teachers in a school or only those in specific departments.

To be eligible for the Virginia Performance-Pay Incentives initiative, a school must meet four of eight criteria. The criteria are associated with "hard-to-staff" schools, including: accreditation, average attendance, percentage of students in special education, percentage of limited-English proficient students, and percentage of first-year teachers.

"When I was on the Fairfax School Board, we always had trouble finding certified special education teachers," Braunlich said. Even during times of economic prosperity, science teachers and special education teachers could find higher-paying jobs in the private sector, he said.

McDonnell's initiative is not the first performance-pay program to meet opposition in the Commonwealth.

In May 2010, Virginia withdrew from President Obama's Race to the Top "pay for performance" program after a majority of school districts refused to agree with key components. Out of 132 school systems, 72 refused to adopt the common core of standards that required annual teacher evaluations, constructive feedback, and the compilation of student growth data.

Despite support from a Republican governor, Virginia schools decided not to alter their own standards and were ineligible for the $4 billion in federal funding.

"How do we give teachers raises now? We give teachers raises now based on what kind of advanced degrees they have and by how many years they have been in the school system," Braunlich said. "We got to that point because it was simply easier to administer."

For years, teacher effectiveness was measured entirely by a snapshot of student grades, which produced misleading results. Today, evaluation models take into account the growth of students over a significant period of time.

North Carolina has operated one of the most successful pay-for-performance teacher-bonus programs in the country for many years. On Tuesday, a panel of experts at the American Enterprise Institute acknowledged that school-level incentives can increase student performance.

North Carolina teachers receive bonuses when the standardized test scores of all students within their school increases "by more than a predetermined amount." According to a report by the American Enterprise Institute, North Carolina public school teachers took fewer sick days, and students' standardized test scores in math and reading have increased significantly. Compared to other education reform options, teacher incentive programs are cost-effective.

The North Carolina program receives state-wide support, including from state teachers unions.

But will Virginia ever see a widespread performance-based teacher-bonus program?

"It comes and goes as a topic," Coyle said. "It's not a novel idea, and it's not one that seems to have gained ground especially in the economic times. It'll be interesting to see how the pilot programs work."

Braunlich said that if a program is properly administered, student growth and academic achievement will increase, and both parents and teachers would support the program.

"I think that at the end of the day, it's good for kids, it's good for school systems, it's good for tax payers, and it's good for teachers," he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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