SCHotline Press Releases

TIME article features South Carolina’s role in national merit pay program for teachersCOLUMBIA - South Carolina’s participation in a national merit pay
program is featured in TIME magazine’s February 25 cover story on
attracting and retaining high-quality public school teachers.

The magazine says finding and keeping good teachers is a key to
America’s competitiveness as a nation. The article by Claudia Wallis
highlights new ways districts across the country are trying to boost the
profession, including ideas borrowed from the business world.

South Carolina is recognized for its involvement in the Teacher
Advancement Program (TAP), a national initiative created by the Milken
Family Foundation in 1999 to draw more talented people into education.
In the article, TAP is called “an impressive model” for giving
teachers an opportunity to earn higher salaries and advance their
professional skills.

Teachers and principals in TAP schools are eligible to earn incentive
pay that could range from $2,000 to $10,000 per year, based on factors
including individual and schoolwide student achievement, plus classroom
observations made four to six times during the year. Teachers may earn
monetary rewards for remaining in the classroom while taking on
additional responsibilities and leadership roles, such as master and
mentor teachers.

“This program highlights our efforts to elevate the teaching profession
and creates a real team approach at the school level,” State
Superintendent of Education Jim Rex said as TAP expanded from 18 South
Carolina schools to 43 for the current year. “It provides teachers
with the tools they need for success and rewards those who improve
student achievement the most.”

Cathy Dailey, a science teacher at Bell Street Middle School in
Clinton, told TIME that her TAP experience has made her more versatile
and effective in the classroom.

“I wouldn’t be nearly the teacher I am today if it weren’t for
the big T-A-P,” the magazine quotes her as saying. “I do many more
labs and hands-on lessons. I’m always looking for new ideas on the
Internet.”

TIME reports that since Dailey’s school adopted TAP in 2001, the
percentage of students scoring Advanced in math and reading has doubled,
while Below Basic math scores fell 26 percent. Teacher turnover has
been reduced from 32 per cent a year to less than 10 percent. TIME says
these kinds of results are promising for the 180 schools and 14 states
(plus Washington) where TAP has been implemented.

The “clear lesson” to be drawn from merit pay experiments is that
teacher compensation based on performance has to include “other
professional opportunities, like the chance to grow in the job, learn
from the best of their peers, show leadership and have a voice in
decision-making,” the magazine adds.

“Making such changes would require a serious investment by school
districts and their taxpayers,” TIME concludes. “But it would
reinvigorate a noble profession.”