Performance Based Compensation

RIDE sees the potential for new compensation models to help districts recruit and retain the best teachers and principals to our schools. As part of RIDE’s Strategic Plan we committed to leading a collaborative effort to review and analyze research regarding the successful implementation of performance-based compensation systems for teachers and leaders. 

Through Race to the Top RIDE conducted a competitive grant competition to select two districts to develop and pilot test models that might lend themselves to being adopted or adapted by districts in Rhode Island. Awards were made to the Providence Public Schools Department (PPSD) and Barrington Public Schools (BPS) in the fall of 2012. PPSD developed a revised structure for principal compensation that was based on the individual school assignment for a principal. The model then provided for additional compensation based on individual performance. Providence has situated the revised compensation system within a career ladder for principals. BPS designed a new pathway for teachers to assume leadership within the district and implemented parts of the program within the context of improved instructional leadership in the district during the 2013-14 school year. The districts have completed their projects and have prepared model summaries for other districts to review. The summaries are provided in the links below. RIDE and the districts will provide an update on the models to the Rhode Island School Superintendents' Association (RISSA) in the fall of 2014

Districts that are beginning to learn about Performance Based Compensation might find the following sources helpful starting points.

General Information

Compensation Reform as One Component of a Strategic Capital Management System

Web Sites

Examples of Programs

Important Issues for Early Development