Menard balks at bonuses for testing

August 17, 2007

By John R. Moses

Frontiersman

PALMER - A state incentive program that awarded more than $1.8 million to teachers in schools whose students performed well on standardized tests drew the anger of a Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District board member Wednesday.

Staffs of three small Borough schools received the awards.

Board Vice President Linda Menard said she strongly disagrees with handing out cash rewards for creating the kind of educational environment that fosters higher test scores. She said she was &#8220insulted for the other teachers that are not getting these bonuses.”

&#8220We are not selling cars, we are selling children,” she said of the reward system.

The program's awards were announced this week by Alaska Department of Education and Early Development.

Academy Charter School of Palmer ranked in the &#8220Excellent” category while Midnight Sun Family Learning Center in Wasilla and Beryozova School in Palmer ranked &#8220High.”

Certified staff members in schools that ranked in the &#8220Excellent” category received a $4,500 bonus. Noncertified staff received $2,000 each. Staffers in schools that were ranked &#8220High” received a $3,500 bonus. Noncertified staff received $1,500 each.

Schools that received the awards statewide were mainly small charter or village schools, Menard said. Larger schools with larger populations of disadvantaged and special education students were left out.

&#8220Everyone who achieved this growth level is a very small school,” Menard said.

Director of Education Susan McCauley told the board that other schools in the Mat-Su district were very close to the state's point total for the award and barely missed the cutoff.

Menard asked if the district was being compensated for keeping track of such numbers. &#8220Is this an additional burden on your staff?” she asked McCauley.

The answer was that the district is not compensated.

Board President Larry DeVilbiss said that having such a measurement tool &#8220sounds like a wonderful tool for contract negotiations.”

That brought a response later in the meeting from school union president George Stewart, who congratulated the awardees and suggested it not be forgotten that hard work occurs in special education classes where teachers work with dedication but are highly unlikely to see such rewards.

The law allows an incentive payment for up to 850 certified staff as well as all noncertified staff employed in schools whose certified staff receive payments. Some personnel in a school district's central office also may receive payments, a state release said.

&#8220We know that when everyone on a school staff, from the custodians to the principal, create a learning environment designed to meet each student's needs in these critical subject areas, student achievement will increase,” Commissioner Roger Sampson says in a prepared statement. &#8220The program goes beyond No Child Left Behind to recognize the importance of even the proficient students continuing to grow academically. And it provides encouragement to schools that are below proficient but improving.”

For the 2006-2007 school year, 770 staff members at 42 schools in 15 districts shared $1,762,375 in incentive payments, and district staff that contributed to those schools' success will share in $88,118.75 in payments, Sampson said. The number of district staff that will get incentive payments will be decided later this month.

Sampson said the incentive program is designed so that no type of school would have an advantage over another.

&#8220The results this year demonstrate the effectiveness of our scoring method. Recipients include large and small schools, rural and urban schools, and elementary and secondary schools statewide,” said Les Morse, the state's director of assessment, accountability and information management. &#8220It was especially encouraging to see that many of the awarded schools have a significant number of economically disadvantaged students.”

Contact John R. Moses at 352-2270 or john.moses@frontiersman.com.