Box 3.2. Identifying and certifying

Box 3.2. Identifying and certifying outstanding teachers

In the United States, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards has established standards.

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) was created in 1987, on the recommendation of the Carnegie Task Force on Teaching as a Profession, to “establish high and rigorous standards for what accomplished teachers should know and be able to do”. The goal of Board Certification, modeled on that in other professions, was to identify and certify outstanding teachers, provide a framework for teacher professional development and create a system through which outstanding teachers could receive salary supplements and be available for new roles in schools. The Board was developed with the active support of the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association and now has certificates in 25 fields, defined by subject matter and developmental level. Teachers complete ten assessments over a period of more than a year, including portfolios of student work, videos of classroom practices, examples of impact on student learning, review by peers, expert evaluations, and assessments of subject-matter knowledge. Today, more than 90,000 teachers have taken National Board Certification. Thirty-two states and more than 700 districts provide fee support or salary supplements. A Congressionally mandated review of studies of the effectiveness of NBPTS teachers found teachers who earned NBPTS certification tended to be more effective than teachers who had not earned NBPTS certification, although it did not establish a causal relationship. It concluded that existing research “neither proves nor refutes” the idea that pursuing NBPTS certification leads to improvements in effectiveness. A number of other countries are now looking at the NBPTS standards and processes as a potential model.




Box 3.3. Linking pay to work

In Denver, Colorado, teachers get additional pay linked to factors such as professional improvement, good evaluation and student progress.

Denver’s Professional Compensation (ProComp) system was initially developed by a joint task force of district, union and community representatives. This work began in 2002, and the group’s proposal was accepted by a vote of teachers in 2004. The program began with local funding, and then started to receive federal funds under the Teacher Incentive Fund program in 2006. As part of the ProComp system, teachers receive additional compensation based on several factors, including (1) teacher knowledge and skills, as obtained through targeted professional development;

(2) high evaluation ratings; (3) teaching in high-need schools and subjects; and (4) demonstrated student growth, both at the classroom and the whole-school level. District and union leadership report ongoing collaboration both to improve the ProComp system and to improve results in the district in general. A recent study published by the University of Colorado at Boulder found a strong impact on student achievement, with improvements in teacher effectiveness leading to improved learning outcomes and increases in teacher retention. The federal government continues to support innovative approaches to teacher evaluation, compensation, professional development, and career advancement through the recently expanded Teacher Incentive Fund program.

42©OECD2011

Building a High-Quality Teaching Profession: Lessons from Around the World


Chapter 3

Te a ch e r E va l u a t i o n a n d C o m p e n s a t i o n


…as does the structure of salary rewards, especially in terms of how salaries increase in the course of a career…

Comparing salary levels at different points in a career indicates how pay progresses through teachers’ careers. Some countries concentrate salary increases early in the career, some save higher rewards for more experienced employees, while for others progress is steady throughout a career30. There is some evidence that a sizeable proportion of teachers and school administrators do not want to move into higher positions in the hierarchy in schools, such as school principal. This may be because the negative aspects of a promotion outweigh positive aspects, such as increased salaries, prestige and other rewards. If this is the case, then the promotion can be made more attractive either by changing the duties and requirements of the position or by changing the salary and other rewards.

Deferred compensation is a key incentive for workers in many industries. This rewards employees for staying in organizations or professions and for meeting established performance criteria. Some form of deferred compensation exists in the teachers’ salary structures of most countries. In OECD countries, statutory salaries for primary, lower and upper secondary general teachers with 15 years of experience are, on average, 38%, 39% and 43% higher, respectively, than starting salaries. Furthermore, the increases from starting salary to the top of the salary scale are, on average, 71%, 70% and 74%, respectively.31

The number of years it takes for a teacher to advance through the salary scale also varies substantially across countries. In lower secondary education, teachers in Australia, Estonia, Denmark, New Zealand and Scotland reach the highest step on the salary scale within six to nine years. Monetary incentives therefore disappear relatively quickly compared to other countries. If job satisfaction and performance are determined, at least in part, by prospects of salary increases, difficulties may arise as teachers approach the peak in their age-earnings profiles.

A number of countries have both steep and flat rises in teachers’ salaries that vary across teachers’ tenure. For example, teachers in Germany and Luxembourg have an opportunity for similar salary increases in the first 15 years, but then face very different growth rates. In Luxembourg salaries rise faster, while in Germany increases are relatively small. Policy makers in these countries thus need to consider how to retain the more experienced teachers.

…as do additional payments, whether linked to extra responsibilities, family status, or performance.

In addition to basic pay scales, school systems increasingly offer additional payments or other rewards for teachers (see Figure 3.6). These may take the form of financial remuneration and/or reduction in the number of teaching hours. In some cases, such as in Greece and Iceland, long service is rewarded by reductions in teaching hours. In Portugal, teachers may receive a salary increase and a reduction in teaching time during the time they carry out special tasks or activities, such as educating student teachers, guidance counseling, etc. Together with the starting salary, such payments may affect a person’s decision to enter or stay in the teaching profession. Additional payments early in a career may include family allowances and bonuses for working in certain locations, and higher initial salaries for higher-than-minimum teaching certification or qualifications, such as qualifications in multiple subjects or certification to teach students with special educational needs. Data on additional payments32 fall into three broad areas:

• those based on responsibilities assumed by teachers and on particular conditions (e.g. additional management responsibilities or teaching in high-need regions, or disadvantaged schools);

• those based on the family status or demographic characteristics; and

• those based on teachers’ qualifications, teacher education and performance (e.g. higher than the
minimum qualifications and/or completing professional development activities).

Results (Vietnamese) 1:

Hộp 3.2. Xác định và xác nhận giáo viên xuất sắcTại Hoa Kỳ, hội đồng quản trị quốc gia cho chuyên nghiệp giảng dạy tiêu chuẩn đã thiết lập tiêu chuẩn.The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) was created in 1987, on the recommendation of the Carnegie Task Force on Teaching as a Profession, to “establish high and rigorous standards for what accomplished teachers should know and be able to do”. The goal of Board Certification, modeled on that in other professions, was to identify and certify outstanding teachers, provide a framework for teacher professional development and create a system through which outstanding teachers could receive salary supplements and be available for new roles in schools. The Board was developed with the active support of the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association and now has certificates in 25 fields, defined by subject matter and developmental level. Teachers complete ten assessments over a period of more than a year, including portfolios of student work, videos of classroom practices, examples of impact on student learning, review by peers, expert evaluations, and assessments of subject-matter knowledge. Today, more than 90,000 teachers have taken National Board Certification. Thirty-two states and more than 700 districts provide fee support or salary supplements. A Congressionally mandated review of studies of the effectiveness of NBPTS teachers found teachers who earned NBPTS certification tended to be more effective than teachers who had not earned NBPTS certification, although it did not establish a causal relationship. It concluded that existing research “neither proves nor refutes” the idea that pursuing NBPTS certification leads to improvements in effectiveness. A number of other countries are now looking at the NBPTS standards and processes as a potential model.Box 3.3. Linking pay to workIn Denver, Colorado, teachers get additional pay linked to factors such as professional improvement, good evaluation and student progress.Denver’s Professional Compensation (ProComp) system was initially developed by a joint task force of district, union and community representatives. This work began in 2002, and the group’s proposal was accepted by a vote of teachers in 2004. The program began with local funding, and then started to receive federal funds under the Teacher Incentive Fund program in 2006. As part of the ProComp system, teachers receive additional compensation based on several factors, including (1) teacher knowledge and skills, as obtained through targeted professional development;(2) high evaluation ratings; (3) teaching in high-need schools and subjects; and (4) demonstrated student growth, both at the classroom and the whole-school level. District and union leadership report ongoing collaboration both to improve the ProComp system and to improve results in the district in general. A recent study published by the University of Colorado at Boulder found a strong impact on student achievement, with improvements in teacher effectiveness leading to improved learning outcomes and increases in teacher retention. The federal government continues to support innovative approaches to teacher evaluation, compensation, professional development, and career advancement through the recently expanded Teacher Incentive Fund program. 42©OECD2011 Building a High-Quality Teaching Profession: Lessons from Around the World Chapter 3Te a ch e r E va l u a t i o n a n d C o m p e n s a t i o n…as does the structure of salary rewards, especially in terms of how salaries increase in the course of a career…Comparing salary levels at different points in a career indicates how pay progresses through teachers’ careers. Some countries concentrate salary increases early in the career, some save higher rewards for more experienced employees, while for others progress is steady throughout a career30. There is some evidence that a sizeable proportion of teachers and school administrators do not want to move into higher positions in the hierarchy in schools, such as school principal. This may be because the negative aspects of a promotion outweigh positive aspects, such as increased salaries, prestige and other rewards. If this is the case, then the promotion can be made more attractive either by changing the duties and requirements of the position or by changing the salary and other rewards.Deferred compensation is a key incentive for workers in many industries. This rewards employees for staying in organizations or professions and for meeting established performance criteria. Some form of deferred compensation exists in the teachers’ salary structures of most countries. In OECD countries, statutory salaries for primary, lower and upper secondary general teachers with 15 years of experience are, on average, 38%, 39% and 43% higher, respectively, than starting salaries. Furthermore, the increases from starting salary to the top of the salary scale are, on average, 71%, 70% and 74%, respectively.31The number of years it takes for a teacher to advance through the salary scale also varies substantially across countries. In lower secondary education, teachers in Australia, Estonia, Denmark, New Zealand and Scotland reach the highest step on the salary scale within six to nine years. Monetary incentives therefore disappear relatively quickly compared to other countries. If job satisfaction and performance are determined, at least in part, by prospects of salary increases, difficulties may arise as teachers approach the peak in their age-earnings profiles.Một số quốc gia đã tăng lên dốc và bằng phẳng ở mức lương giáo viên khác nhau trên toàn nhiệm kỳ giáo viên. Ví dụ, các giáo viên tại Đức và Luxembourg có một cơ hội cho tương tự như tăng lương trong 15 năm đầu tiên, nhưng sau đó phải đối mặt với tốc độ tăng trưởng rất khác nhau. Ở Luxembourg lương tăng nhanh hơn, trong khi ở Đức gia tăng là tương đối nhỏ. Các nhà hoạch định chính sách ở các quốc gia do đó cần phải xem xét làm thế nào để giữ lại các giáo viên có kinh nghiệm... .như làm thanh toán bổ sung, cho dù được liên kết với phụ trách nhiệm, trạng thái gia đình hoặc hiệu suất.In addition to basic pay scales, school systems increasingly offer additional payments or other rewards for teachers (see Figure 3.6). These may take the form of financial remuneration and/or reduction in the number of teaching hours. In some cases, such as in Greece and Iceland, long service is rewarded by reductions in teaching hours. In Portugal, teachers may receive a salary increase and a reduction in teaching time during the time they carry out special tasks or activities, such as educating student teachers, guidance counseling, etc. Together with the starting salary, such payments may affect a person’s decision to enter or stay in the teaching profession. Additional payments early in a career may include family allowances and bonuses for working in certain locations, and higher initial salaries for higher-than-minimum teaching certification or qualifications, such as qualifications in multiple subjects or certification to teach students with special educational needs. Data on additional payments32 fall into three broad areas:• those based on responsibilities assumed by teachers and on particular conditions (e.g. additional management responsibilities or teaching in high-need regions, or disadvantaged schools);• those based on the family status or demographic characteristics; and• those based on teachers’ qualifications, teacher education and performance (e.g. higher than theminimum qualifications and/or completing professional development activities).