Charlotte-Mecklenburg Launches Teacher Pay-for-Performance Program

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By Debra Lau Whelan -- School Library Journal, 6/4/2008 2:05:00 PM

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has received a $1.9 million federal grant to launch a pilot pay-for-performance program aimed at rewarding teachers and administrators for student academic performance, the district says.

Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the program will be tested at six schools next year and will be expanded to include 10 additional district schools in the next few years, officials say.

"Compensation reform is comprehensive reform—and that is the task that Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has undertaken,” says Peter Gorman, superintendent of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. “Our single largest expenditure as a district is compensation for teachers and principals."

The grant comes from the DOE’s Teacher Incentive Fund, President Bush's initiative to develop and implement performance-based teacher and principal compensation systems in high-need, disadvantaged schools, where at least 30 percent of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The goals of the program are to improve student achievement by increasing the effectiveness of principals and teachers, and, at the same time, increase the number of effective teachers for minority and disadvantaged students.