Members of Denver Classroom Teachers Association (DCTA) today ratified a dramatically new salary system that will pay teachers for improving student achievement as well as other accomplishments that closely align their work with Denver Public Schools (DPS) instructional goals and priorities.

Through the Professional Compensation System for Teachers - ProComp - teachers can increase career earnings by improving student achievement, earning successful professional evaluations, working in the most academically challenged schools and advancing their skills and knowledge.

The vote was 59 percent in favor and 41 percent opposed out of 2,718 votes cast. DCTA has 3,200 members out of the district’s 4,500 teachers.

Becky Wissink, president of DCTA, said, “It’s fitting that Denver - the district that enacted the first collective bargaining agreement west of the Mississippi - has approved the first contract in the nation that will put teacher salaries on a par with many other professions and catapult K-12 compensation into the 21st century. ProComp will give teachers more control over their financial destiny while closely aligning their work to the district’s goals of improving student learning and attracting, retaining and rewarding the best teachers.”

“We’re delighted teachers have supported the ideas that are at the heart of ProComp,” said Board of Education President Les Woodward. “The new system acknowledges and rewards outstanding teachers and will enhance their professional capabilities. But the bottom line is the compensation system’s impact on student achievement and our pilot has shown that students benefit when teachers work toward rigorous student achievement objectives. It’s thrilling to have worked with the teachers association on a plan that will greatly enhance the ongoing drive to improve student achievement.”

ProComp differs from the current salary system in four distinct ways:

1. The district will pay annual salary increases for demonstrated student growth and bonuses to teachers in schools judged distinguished based on academic gains. It would eliminate scheduled increases solely for years of service.
2. Teachers will receive salary increases for demonstrated acquisition of additional knowledge and skills related to student growth and their instructional discipline.
3. The district will offer incentives for teachers of demonstrated accomplishment who choose to work in schools with the greatest academic need. Similar bonuses will be offered to teachers and specialists who fill positions where there are a shortage of qualified applicants.
4. The net result is that teachers who meet and exceed rigorous expectations in a fair system will have no artificial limits on their annual and career earnings.

The system was developed using an economic model that projects costs 50 years into the future, to ensure that the system is affordable and sustainable. The ProComp agreement runs for nine years with annual evaluations and the potential to reopen negotiations at three year intervals.

During the next 18 months, transition committees of teachers and administrators will complete further work on elements of ProComp. Tasks for DPS and DCTA will include developing and pilot-testing a new teacher evaluation system and determining agreed-upon incentives. The final step will be approval by Denver voters of $25 million in additional revenue to fully fund the new system.

If the ProComp mill levy is approved by voters, current teachers would be able to choose whether to join the new system or remain in the existing salary system during a seven year “opt-in” window. New teachers hired by the district after January 2006 would automatically enter the new system.

Denver Superintendent Jerry Wartgow said, “We firmly believe that when it comes time for Denver voters to weigh in that they will see the positive features of this plan that have found favor with district staff, the Board of Education and the teachers union. This plan offers a comprehensive approach to teacher compensation that fully supports the district’s goals of setting high expectations, improving the performance of all students, and closing the gap between better and poorer performing students. The teachers union is owed a great deal of thanks for its hard work and dedication as we prepare to ask for community support to make ProComp a reality.”

The ProComp vote is the culmination of more than four years of research, development and testing surrounding a critical educational policy issue on how best to link teacher compensation to educational outcomes. The DPS-DCTA collaboration is being watched nationally by educators and elected officials.

The discussion began in 1999 with the Pay for Performance Pilot (PfP). The primary objective of the pilot was to determine whether student achievement can be linked to teacher pay. By the time the pilot reached the half-way point, the research showed that student achievement should not be the sole measurement of teacher capabilities or performance. It ultimately demonstrated a strong link between high quality teacher objectives and student achievement.

Wissink said, “We were gratified by the results of the pilot since our position for years has been that teachers should be evaluated using multiple measures, not just one yardstick like student achievement. A person in the business world is not simply judged on meeting their numbers,” she noted. “They’re also gauged on how they approach their work, how well they demonstrate key values, and more.”

In 2001, DPS and DCTA appointed the Joint Task Force on Teacher Compensation of 12 teachers, administrators and citizens. The task force unveiled their conceptual design in April 2003 and revised and refined the compensation system based on feedback through meetings, surveys and other venues. ProComp provides teachers with multiple avenues to build salary through four major components: student growth, knowledge and skills, incentives and evaluation.

The research and development would not have been possible without the generous support of several foundations, including the Rose Community Foundation of Denver and the Broad Foundation of Los Angeles. Support for the pilot was also provided by the Sturm Family Foundation, Donnell-Kay Foundation, The Piton Foundation, Daniels Fund and The Denver Foundation.
“We greatly appreciate the support of the philanthropic community over these many years,” added Woodward. “Their significant financial support and ongoing interest in the project made it possible for us to conduct a rigorous research study of the pilot and to provide experts to help the compensation task force to create a fair and balanced compensation plan that is sustainable for the long term.”

Information on the Professional Compensation System for Teachers can be found at www.denverteachercompensation.org.

For more information, contact the DPS Public Information Office at 720-423-3414; Peggy Gonder, 303-321-3465, 303-246-0511, or peggy.gonder@gonderpr.com; or Cary Baird, 303-883-0797.