Rewarding Excellence

A reliable and accurate evaluation system provides the opportunity to align student growth and achievement with teacher compensation. Doing so improves Dallas ISD’s ability to attract, develop, and retain effectiveness teachers. 

A well-designed strategic compensation system clearly outlines what the organization values. Inextricably linked to the evaluation system, an effective compensation system supports the evaluation system’s focus on effective teaching – defined through teacher performance, student perceptions, and student achievement. An effective system places a premium on results and rewards teachers accordingly. It also:

– Supports the recruitment and retention of highly motivated and effective teachers.
– Differentiates salaries to reward teachers who perform well and raise student achievement results.
– Enables the organization to shift compensation from factors that have questionable impact on student achievement to those that do.
– Rewards professionalism and leadership.

The traditional teacher salary schedule, which uses years of service and college degrees as the measures for compensation, places little importance on teacher performance and student outcomes. The Teacher Excellence Initiative eliminates the traditional teacher salary schedule and replaces it with a compensation system based on nine effectiveness levels.