Denver Public Schools and the Denver Classroom Teachers Association undertook a national demonstration which showed that linking what students learn to what professionals earn can be a major catalyst for system change. The Innovations Lab at CTAC assisted Denver Public Schools to develop, implement, and evaluate its groundbreaking performance-based compensation initiative.

“Bill Slotnik of CTAC provided critical assistance to the design team as it worked to get the pilot up and running, pushed the school district and union harder than they thought they could be pushed, and most, importantly, strove to ensure that the school district perceived the transformation of a compensation system as a whole-district reform effort, not an isolated teacher-pay experiment.”

—from Pay for Performance Teacher Compensation by Phil Gonring, Paul Teske, and Brad Jupp

Results:

  • Denver Public School teachers approved the new teacher compensation system, ProComp, by a 3-to-2 margin.
  • Denver voters approved a $25 million tax increase by a 3-to-2 margin to fund the new system.
  • CTAC’s evaluation provided the base of evidence for Congressional approval of the Teacher Incentive Fund.
  • This initiative launched the performance-based compensation and evaluation movement nationally.

Download the report:

Download Catalyst for Change Report

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