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PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE
Performance Pay: Grimmway Teachers Embrace Concept and Thrive
by E. Roque & J. Salas
Are Grimmway Academy teachers the best in Kern County? Our teachers are definitely the bravest and most innovative around as they are a part of Kern County's only Performance Pay Program. GA Teachers can earn an additional 10 % of pay for exemplary peformance in the classroom. The process calls for continuous observation and constructive support the entire year as teachers strive to be best teacher they can be.
Should teachers receive merit pay or be paid for performance for good teaching? This controversial topic has continued to divide the education field for decades. As educational reform continues, presidential parties debate whether or not to officially implement performance-related pay. Although the teaching profession has lessened its opposition to performance or merit pay recently, it was still satisfying to know that our Grimmway Academy staff has fully embraced our Performance-based Pay.
We welcomed teacher's insight and comments to the GA PAR process. We were delighted to learn that Grimmway teachers felt an affinity toward being evaluated and potentially being compensated for exemplary teaching.
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Miss Perez 1st Grade Teacher |
First grade teacher, Ms. Perez shared the following, "Through Peer Assistance Review (PAR), I am getting the positive feedback necessary to make me a better teacher not only for my students but for myself as well." Veteran teacher Mrs. Guthrie had the following comments, " My overall introduction to the PAR tool and observations was very positive and I feel I grew as a teacher in just my first semester at Grimmway Academy. I am actually looking forward to being observed again and having the time to reflect on how I can be a better teacher and best meet the needs of my diverse students."
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Ms. Guthrie 1st Grade Teacher |
Teachers are formally and informally evaluated throughout the semester. The PAR Rubric is extremely candid and straightforward and staff knows member knows exactly what an exemplary professional should strive for. Teachers are fairly evaluated and scored three ways: A self-evaluation, peer evaluation and administrative evaluation. Follow-up discussions help guide the course of the observations and teachers are provided a summary of strengths and areas to improve.
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Miss Gallardo 2nd Grade Teacher |
Second-grade Language Arts teacher-Ms. Gallardo observed, "PAR has provided me with important performance feedback that I can use to improve my teaching. The quality of this feedback exceeds my previous experiences with other teacher evaluation tools. Even though it is normal for teachers to be observed, it is rare for teachers to receive meaningful feedback from those observations. The PAR process is fair because it is transparent."
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Mr. Alavarado 1st Grade Teacher |
And transparent the PAR System is! Or as a quote by B. Sweetland so bravely states, "We cannot hold a torch to light another's path without brightening our own." We believe 3rd Grade teacher-Mr. Wofford agrees, "As teachers, we should hold ourselves to a high standard, and strive to reach our full potential. I strongly feel that PAR helps us to achieve that [goal]." And that is exactly what the PAR experience hopes to grasp: The ability to excel as professionals then, promote the same excellence in our students and community so they too can soar!
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Mr. Wofford 3rd Grade Teacher |
**The GA PAR program is modeled after Vaughn Next Century Learning Center's PAR program and Charlotte Danielson's Teacher Perrformance Matrix.
Special Contribution to the GA Newsletter
by Jessica Benavides
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