Teacher Incentive Fund Grantee Profiles

Chicago Public Schools Recognizing Excellence in Academic Leadership

The Chicago Public Schools (CPS) will collaborate with the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) and National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET)/Teacher Advancement Program (TAP) to implement a comprehensive and aligned system of compensation, performance evaluation, professional development, and school career opportunities for teachers and principals.

Location(s) Chicago, Illinois

Award Date November 2006

Grant Amount
Five-year total: $27,336,693

Duration 5 years

Partners National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET), Teacher Advancement Program (TAP), Mathematica Policy Research Inc. (MPR), Chicago Teachers Union (CTU)

Needs Assessment Results and General Information
Recognizing Excellence in Academic Leadership (REAL) will be implemented as a pilot in 40 of the highest need, regular and charter schools in the CPS, impacting approximately 24,000 students, 1,240 teachers, and 40 principals. CPS enrolls a large number of poor and minority students. The district has growing English Language Learners (ELL) (13%) and special needs (14%) populations. In 2004-05, approximately 50 percent of elementary students were in the lowest performing categories on the state assessments in reading and 54 percent in mathematics. At the high school level, the majority of students performed in the lowest two categories in reading (59%) and math (73%).

Conducted in partnership with the Joyce Foundation and Education Trust, the CPS teacher quality survey results showed there was an inequitable distribution of high quality teachers among the highest poverty, highest minority, and lowest performing schools. Teacher turnover in the schools that participated in the teacher quality survey was 19 percent.

Background
Building on an ongoing Human Capital Initiative that has been ongoing for 4 years, CPS will implement TAP. After a design year, REAL will phase 10 schools per year into the program.

Incentives
For teachers, CPS will implement TAP’s differentiated compensation levels based on classroom and school-level value-added student achievement gains along with classroom instructional performance. For principals, incentives are based on school-level value-added student achievement gains along with the effectiveness of
TAP implementation.

In the initial year of implementation for each Cohort of ten (10) schools, 75 percent of the teacher-targeted bonus will be linked to student achievement on state assessments and 25 percent will be linked to multiple evaluations of teacher performance related to instructional design and planning, instructional implementation, and the learning environment and responsibilities. As the program continues and capacity is strengthened, performance awards will be weighted increasingly on individual classroom achievement and classroom observations. Over time, 60 percent of the teacher-targeted bonus will be linked to student achievement on state assessments. The other 40 percent will be related to multiple evaluations of teacher performance. Within the 60 percent tied to student achievement, 50 percent will be based on schoolwide value-added growth and 50 percent on individual classroom value-added growth.

REAL teachers who do not teach state-tested subjects (art, physical education) will have the entire 60 percent based on schoolwide gains.

Principal evaluations will be based on program implementation and student achievement. In year 1 of implementation for each Cohort of 10 schools, the bonus will be weighted 75 percent on implementation effectiveness and 25 percent on schoolwide student achievement gains. The ratio will change to 50/50 in year 2 and 25/75 in years 3 and beyond.

CPS will allot $4,000 per teacher in the award pool for teachers and $5,000 for principals.

Evaluation
MPR will conduct a randomized control evaluation plan. A value-added model is being developed with the Wisconsin Center for Education Research.

Resources
CPS has developed a funding schedule that will support REAL during and beyond the grant period with district and foundation support, including $2.6 million from the Broad Foundation, $1.2 million from the Joyce Foundation, and $400,000 from Chicago Public Education Fund.

Data Systems
In-place data systems include student assessment data on the statewide exams in grades 3 to 8 in math and reading, student background information, teacher mobility, and teacher credentials. Program implementation data will be collected by NIET and the CPS Department of Program Evaluation.

Year 1 Activities
During the planning year, the Project Planning Committee

composed of teachers, principals, and representatives from key CPS offices, the teachers’ union, the principals’ association, and major foundations – conducted broad outreach and information sessions for all interested schools. All schools whose student populations exceeded 75 percent Free/Reduced Lunch were invited to several Information Sessions held in February 2007. Over 200 people attended those sessions representing approximately 120 schools. The Planning Committee received over 60 Interest Applications and approximately 40 Final Applications which included 75 percent staff approval for program participation. In May 2007, 20 schools were selected to participate in the program; 10 of those schools will implement the program in 2007-08, and the other 10 schools will act as a control group in 2007-08 and then implement the program in 2008-09. During the summer, over 75 members of the Schools’ Leadership Teams, including School Administrators, Lead Teachers, and Mentor Teachers, participated in 6 days of extensive training in the TAP model: Preparing to Become a TAP School and Preparing to Become a Certified TAP Evaluator/Observer. Lastly, in July 2007, the Chicago Teachers Union and the Board of Education approved a Memorandum of Understanding for the REAL program.

Outlook for Year 2
In 2007-08, the REAL Program will provide extensive support and follow-up training to the 10 schools implementing the TAP model. In addition, the REAL Joint Council, a committee of five (5) members appointed by the Board of Education and five (5) members appointed by the Chicago Teachers Union, will work together to establish joint communications and messaging, to monitor the program implementation, and to recommend improvements to the program. In March, the next cohort of 10 schools will prepare for implementation in fall 2008.

This page last updated on: January 17, 2008.