Can pay-for-performance boost student achievement and retain talented teachers and educator? Early implementation findings from Mathematica’s rigorous national evaluation of the Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF), a grant program designed to support innovative approaches to reforming teacher pay and performance-based teacher and principal compensation systems to help attract top talent in high-needs schools, sheds light on the answer to this question. The study found that after the first year, two key challenges emerged for participating districts: full implementation of the program and communication about TIF and its incentives, including the program’s performance measures and performance-based bonuses.
Early Implementation Experiences of the 2010 Teacher Incentive Fund Grantees
Challenges to Full Implementation, Communicating Performance Bonuses
Related Evidence & Insights
Project
Pay-for-Performance: Evaluating the Teacher Incentive Fund
This study is evaluating these performance-based compensation systems to examine issues like the impact of pay-for-performance on student achievement and educator effectiveness, and helping to answer pressing policy questions about how the programs are designed, communicated, and implemented.
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