$1 million grant is designed to expand pay for performance efforts

Los Angeles, CA -- The Broad Foundation today announced a major financial boost to Denver Public Schools’ (DPS) ambitious Pay for Performance pilot initiative. The Pay for Performance Pilot provides financial bonuses for teachers who demonstrate gains in student achievement. Teachers participating in the pilot are eligible for bonuses of up to $1,500 per year.

Eli Broad, Founder of The Broad Foundation, said: “It is great step forward for children when a public school system builds student performance gains into the teacher and principal salary structures. I hope other K-12 public school districts across the country will take notice and learn from Denver’s ambitious and thoughtful work on behalf of urban school children.”

Denver’s Pay for Performance Pilot program is unique because it is one of the only pay for performance programs in the country that is supported by the teacher’s association, administrators and the community. The pilot is fully supported by the Denver Classroom Teachers Association, Denver School Board and Superintendent Jerry Wartgow.

The school district and the teacher’s union have both appointed representatives to a Design Team that administers the program. At the end of the four-year pilot, members of the Denver Board of Education and the Denver Classroom Teachers Association will vote whether or not to adopt a teacher compensation system that incorporates student achievement as part of the salary determination.

“The Broad Foundation has made its mark by investing in projects that have the potential to affect school reform at a deep level,” said Denver Board of Education President Elaine Gantz Berman. “Along with the local Denver foundation community, the involvement of the Broad Foundation builds a powerful network of support for this groundbreaking pilot, which has the potential to demonstrate how best to link teacher pay to improved student achievement. The Board of Education has been extremely supportive of the Pay for Performance Pilot and this vital endorsement from a national foundation should be considered heartening to all those teachers, principals and members of the Design Team who are working hard to make sure the pilot produces the valuable information that we all think it will.”

This program, started in 1999, now enters its second phase. The results of a December 2001 mid-point evaluation by the Community Training and Assistance Center (CTAC) were very promising. CTAC documented not only significant student achievement gains in pilot schools but also increased cooperation among the pilot schools’ teachers on behalf their students.

The Broad Foundation’s one million dollar grant will build on that success by supporting the following activities:

• Evaluation: A comprehensive final report will be completed by CTAC in the fall of 2003. CTAC’s work is critical because it provides a valid and independent third party assessment of the Denver pilot.
  
• Joint Salary Taskforce: This pilot taskforce includes 18 members from the DPS administration, the Denver Classroom Teacher’s Association and community leaders. Funds will be used to hire 2-3 consultants to help develop a system-wide sustainable pay for performance compensation model. The work will include the development of a comprehensive, adjustable financial model.
  
• Communication Support: Funding will help continue the work of the pay for performance communications team. Both success and challenges of this program will be shared with all stakeholders as well as with interested local and national audiences.

“The support of the Broad Foundation is deeply appreciated,” said Superintendent Jerry Wartgow. “It ensures that the pilot will be completed with a high-quality evaluation that will provide us with valuable information on the pay for performance concept, particularly its impact on student achievement. We are extremely thankful for the foundation’s support and its recognition of the importance of this pilot.”

“We also greatly appreciate the Broad Foundation’s generous support to enhance the work of the pilot,” said Becky Wissink, president of the Denver Classroom Teachers Association “The grant will help the salary task force investigate a wide range of compensation models as well as assist us in educating teachers about the issues they will be voting on at the end of the pilot. Because we are dealing with teachers’ livelihoods, we want to be as thorough as possible evaluating the pilot, exploring compensation models and communicating with those who will be voting on a proposed new system.”

The entire pilot program is a $10 million dollar, four-year endeavor supported by DPS and the Denver philanthropic community. The Denver-based Rose Community Foundation has played a pivotal role in the success of the pilot program. “Rose Community Foundation believes that the Pay for Performance Pilot is a critical project for the future of the Denver Public Schools,” said Steven W. Farber, chair of Rose Community Foundation’s Board of Trustees. “The Broad Foundation’s investment in our community signifies a national commitment to the important work of Denver’s Board of Education and the teacher’s union.”

Other key philanthropic support has come from the Daniels Fund, Sturm Family Foundation, Donnell-Kay Foundation, and the Piton Foundation.

Contacts:
Melissa Ratcliff (Broad)
310-954-5057

Mark Stevens (DPS)
720-423-3414

The Broad Foundation is a Los Angeles-based entrepreneurial grant-making organization, established in 1999 by Eli and Edythe Broad. The Foundation was started with an initial investment of $100 million that was recently increased by the Broad family to $400 million. The Foundation’s mission is to dramatically improve K-12 urban public education through better governance, management and labor relations.