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Eagle County
Because only 30% of teachers were eligible for individual payouts for student
achievement gains, Eagle County adopted a “team approach” to bonuses. Bonuses are
allocated on a schoolwide level based on analysis of all students’ scores in the building.
Philosophy behind this is partially that all subject areas can impact math, reading, and
writing performance, so all teachers should be rewarded for success of the school.
Within the same schools, individual teachers generate profoundly different learning gains, even
among students with similar prior test scores and demographic characteristics. Such research is
often referred to as “value-added” analysis, since it attempts to measure differences in
outcomes among students with similar baseline performance and characteristics. There is
growing evidence that value-added scores better predict future student achievement than
evaluations, qualifications, and experience. The observed range of teacher effectiveness is
striking. In elementary and middle school, assigning a teacher in the top quartile rather than a
teacher in the bottom quartile means that the average student in the class moves 6-10
percentile points further in a single year.1 This differential is 20-25 percent of the racial
achievement gap. The magnitude of the difference has been similar in the studies based on
random assignment. Although state governments have typically attempted to regulate teacher
quality by setting minimum qualifications, researchers have typically found little or no link
between teacher qualifications and teacher effectiveness.2
While four decades of research3 by scores of academics has failed to quell debate on optimal
policy for reform of the American public school system, one aspect of the school-reform debate
has remained remarkably consistent: the supreme importance of teacher performance as
compared to all other controllable variables:
While factors like class size, heterogeneous vs. homogeneous class groupings, and curriculum
are surely relevant to the discussion of school policy reform, data from the academic literature5
has over and over again shown that the single most important factor controlling a student’s
performance in schools is the quality of their teacher:
1
Gordon, Robert, Thomas J. Kane and Douglas O. Staiger, “Identifying Effective Teachers Using
Performance on the Job.” Hamilton Project Discussion Paper, March 2006.
2
Ibid
3
The question of how significantly schools (and teachers) impact student performance was first analyzed
by James Coleman with his provocative (and still controversial) paper, “Equality of Educational
Opportunity,” better known as “The Coleman Report,” in 1966.
4
Hanushek, Rivkin, and Kain. 1998. “ Teachers, Schools, and Academic Achievement.” National Bureau of
Economic Research, Working Paper no. 6691, p. 32.
reflect the substantial heterogeneity of teachers be it differences in effort
or skill, if they are to have a significant purpose.6
Put succinctly, if we are to attempt to improve the quality of our school system in the state of
Colorado, it is absolutely imperative that our reform efforts focuses above all else on the quality
of teachers in our schools.
6
Ibid, p. 5
APPENDIX D: High-Performing Schools Serving Students from Low-Income Families
Direct Placement 3 - 105 ILCS 5/34-18, subsection 31 – For cities over 500,000
Gives the board authority to determine when tenured teachers can be laid off, and authority to
determine the process by which such layoffs happen. Note, however, that principals retain
teacher appointment authority (Mutual Consent) under this scheme.
The school principal shall make the decision in selecting teachers to fill new and vacant positions
consistent with Section 34-8.1.
The School Code does not exempt tenured teachers from layoff. Land v. Board of Educ. of City of
Chicago, 2002, 269 Ill.Dec. 452, 202 Ill.2d 414, 781 N.E.2d 249. Schools 147.6
Genuine issues of material fact as to whether tenured public school teacher obtained a teaching
position, as was required to avoid being laid off, precluded summary judgment in favor of board
of education in action seeking a writ of mandamus ordering board to reinstate teacher, a
permanent injunction restraining board from terminating his employment, and a declaratory
judgment invalidating the board's layoff policy as violative of teacher's statutory tenure rights.
Land v. Board of Educ. of City of Chicago, App. 1 Dist.2001, 259 Ill.Dec. 49, 325 Ill.App.3d 294,
757 N.E.2d 912, rehearing denied , appeal allowed 262 Ill.Dec. 620, 198 Ill.2d 593, 766 N.E.2d
240, affirmed in part , reversed in part 269 Ill.Dec. 452, 202 Ill.2d 414, 781 N.E.2d 249. Judgment
181(27)
The scheme is discussed in Land v. Bd. of Educ. of Chi., 757 N.E.2d 912 (Ill. App. Ct. 2001),
rehearing denied, appeal allowed 262 Ill.Dec. 620, 198 Ill.2d 593, 766 N.E.2d 240, affirmed in
part, reversed in part 269 Ill.Dec. 452, 202 Ill.2d 414, 781 N.E.2d 249 (where teacher's position
was eliminated pursuant to reduction in force, teacher needed to find another teaching position
to avoid being laid off).