Case Studies: Overview | Partial Inclusion | Group Awards | Full Inclusion

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The only program to date that fully includes teachers outside of tested subjects in all aspects of a performance pay initiative - including individual performance awards based on student growth - is Denver's Professional Compensation System (ProComp). Designed in a partnership between the Denver Classroom Teachers Association and Denver Public Schools in 1999, ProComp is a groundbreaking compensation system that (1) rewards and recognizes teachers for meeting and exceeding expectations, (2) links compensation more closely with instructional outcomes for students, and (3) enables the district to attract and retain the most qualified and effective teachers by offering increased annual earnings in a fair system. All staff members are eligible to earn additional compensation under all aspects of this model.

ProComp has four components that allow teachers to build earnings:

• Knowledge and Skills. Teachers earn compensation for acquiring and demonstrating these traits through professional development, or earning graduate degrees and national certifications.
• Professional Evaluation. Teachers are recognized for their classroom skill by receiving salary increases every three years for satisfactory evaluations.
• Student Growth. Teachers are rewarded for the academic growth of their students, determined through meeting annual objectives, exceeding standardized testing goals, and for working in a school judged to be distinguished based on student gains.
• Market Incentives. Teachers in hard-to-serve schools or hard-to-staff positions are eligible to earn additional bonuses.

Denver ProComp website

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This page will focus on the two aspects of ProComp that relate most directly to teacher performance - professional evaluation and student growth - and demonstrate how educators outside of tested subjects are included in these aspects of the system. For information on the full program, see the ProComp case study page.

Professional Evaluation
ProComp has developed a comprehensive professional evaluation system that recognizes and rewards teachers who demonstrate proficient and distinguished practice. Teachers outside tested subjects are evaluated with evaluation forms and according to performance standards and rubrics relative to their specialty.

• Performance Standards and Rubrics. Performance standards and rubrics clearly spell out the professional expectations for teachers and student service professionals and provide indicators of various levels of proficiency. These standards provide the basis by which all educators can be fairly evaluated.
  
  • ProComp's Advisor/Administrative Assistant Standards and Rubric
  • ProComp's Facilitator/Instructional Coach Standards and Rubric
  • ProComp's Counselor Standards and Rubric
  • ProComp's Social Worker Standards and Rubric
  • ProComp's Psychologist Standards and Rubric
  • ProComp's Library/Media Specialist Standards and Rubric
  • ProComp's Nurse Standards and Rubric
  • ProComp's Itinerant Teacher for Gifted and Talented Standards and Rubric
  • ProComp's Itinerant Teacher for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Standards and Rubric
  • ProComp's Vision Itinerant Standards and Rubric
  • ProComp's Educational Audiologist Standards and Rubric
  • ProComp's Speech Language Pathologist Standards and Rubric
  • ProComp's Occupational Therapist and Physical Therapist Standards and Rubric
  • ProComp's Special Education Itinerant/Teacher on Special Assignment Standards and Rubric
• Evaluation Forms. Clear evaluation forms have been developed to determine whether a teacher qualifies for performance-based pay on the basis of their evaluations. These forms are differentiated based on teaching assignment.
  
  • ProComp's Advisor/Administrative Assistant Evaluation Form
  • ProComp's Facilitator/Instructional Coach Evaluation Form
  • ProComp's Counselor Evaluation Form
  • ProComp's Social Worker Evaluation Form
  • ProComp's Psychologist Evaluation Form
  • ProComp's Librarian Evaluation Form
  • ProComp's Nurse Evaluation Form
  • ProComp's Itinerant Teacher for Gifted and Talented Evaluation Form
  • ProComp's Itinerant Teacher for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Evaluation Form
  • ProComp's Vision Itinerant Evaluation Form
  • ProComp's Educational Audiologist Evaluation Form
  • ProComp's Speech Language Pathologist Evaluation Form
  • ProComp's Occupational Therapist and Physical Therapist Evaluation Form
  • ProComp's Special Education Itinerant/Teacher on Special Assignment Evaluation Form

See ProComp's Professional Evaluation Handbook, for a comprehensive overview of Denver's professional evaluation system.

Student Growth Objectives (SGOs)
All educators in DPS must set two annual goals for student growth (student growth objectives or SGOs), which serve as one source of individual performance incentives. These objectives must be job-based, measurable, focused on student performance, discussed with a supervisor at least three times during the school year, and recorded online. They include the following elements:

• Rationale. Why a specific objective was chosen.
• Population. What students an objective will address.
• Interval of instructional time. Length of time for the interval of instruction.
• Assessment. How student growth is going to be measured.
• Expected gain or growth. How much students need to grow to meet the goal.
• Learning content. Focus of instruction.
• Strategies. Ways of meeting objectives.

The Student Services Professionals SGO Handbook explains the objective setting process in more detail. A checklist and sample SGOs help guide educators outside of tested subjects as they create their annual student growth goals. See Denver's ProComp site to learn more about SGOs.

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