History of IDEA
Jeannie Oakes, Founder and Former Director
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Study shows Texas teacher merit pay helps keep staff, slightly helps test scores
- 12-06-2010
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By Terrence Stutz / The Dallas Morning News
More Texas teachers stayed put and students saw a slight jump in their test scores at schools where teachers received performance-based pay in the first two years of a $400 million state program, a study indicates. The work by researchers at Vanderbilt University, the University of Missouri and Rand Corp. also found that school districts got better results when they gave teachers bigger bonuses – $3,000 and up – although a majority of districts chose to spread the money around to more teachers and give smaller payments. Results for the District Awards for Teacher Excellence plan could help the Legislature decide whether to keep the program – the largest of its kind in the nation – when lawmakers deal with a massive revenue shortfall next year. More than 200 districts participated, including the Dallas district. "Students in DATE schools had greater gains on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills than those in non-DATE schools," said the report from the National Center on Performance Incentives. The study cautioned, though, that achievement gains shown by merit pay schools were small and could have resulted in part from other initiatives at those schools. (more…)
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