Another dozen school districts have landed federal Teacher Incentive Fund grants, including one that will focus on paying principals and assistant principals for their performance.
The 30,000-student Pittsburgh schools are building a system that recognizes principals for meeting high-level standards in their work and for test-score gains students earn in their schools, according to Jody Buchheit Spolar, the district’s director of employee relations.
The district, which gets $1.4 million this year and expects $7.4 million over five years from the fund, plans to pay principals salary increments of up to $2,000 for meeting standards, and annual bonusesbased on test-score growth, beginning in the new school year. Assistant principals will be eligible for the pay increases the following year.
TIF, which was launched this fiscal year, is intended to raise the overall effectiveness of teachers and principals in schools serving poor children.
In addition to Pittsburgh, seven districts across the nation received grants: Lynwood, Calif., $2.3 million; Amphitheater Unified, Tucson, Ariz., $4.7 million; Harrison District Two, Colorado Springs, Colo., $1.2 million; Beggs, Okla., $500,000; Cumberland County, N.C., $1.2 million; Florence County (S.C.) District Three, $2 million; and Prince George’s County, Md., $600,000.
Also awarded grants: the Community Training and Assistance Center, Boston, which will work with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg County, N.C., district, $2 million; the Edward W. Brooke Charter School in Boston, $300,000; the Center for Educational Innovation, in New York City, to work with 10 New York charter schools, $1.7 million; and the South Dakota education department, which will pilot a new pay system in 11 districts, $4.8 million.
In total, there were 34 grant recipients from the fund’s allocation this fiscal year.
For more stories on this topic see Teachers.
