The Board recognizes that quality teaching should be matched with quality compensation, and that providing incentive for higher performance will lead to greater student achievement and school success.  The board therefore adopts the following policy regarding performance bonus pay for teachers.

Elements of the Performance Pay Plan

Eligibility:  Teachers with a current teaching assignment are eligible to receive Performance Pay based on the teacher's individual performance using the elements and criteria outlined in the plan.  Teachers who are terminated for cause or are on formal probation are not eligible.

Amount:  The amount of Performance Pay available is up to $1500 per FTE.  (This amount may increase or decrease commensurate with state funding under 53A-17a-148.)  The actual amount earned will be based on the percentage of points earned according to the elements of this plan.

Criteria: The amount of award received will be determined by the teacher's overall performance as measured by the Gateway Preparatory Academy Teacher Performance Evaluation, which has been developed to measure teacher excellence in the following areas:

• Growth in Quality of Instruction
• Professional Development
• Parental Satisfaction

Growth in Quality of Instruction

Participating teachers will set five "Quality of Instruction" related growth goals for themselves in conjunction with the Academy Director. Each goal will include a description and a rubric for measuring the achievement of the goal. Goals will be personalized to the instructional skills and needs of the individual teacher and will require substantial improvement in teaching practices to achieve.

These five growth goals and related assessment rubrics are the Growth Plan for that that teacher. The Academy Director will conduct five individual growth conferences with each teacher over the course of the school year, one per six-week term, to assist teachers in creating, implementing, and assessing their quality of instruction growth.

The Academy Director will assess each participating teacher according the agreed rubric for each goal. This assessment will be worth up to 100 points per growth goal, for a total of 500 possible points per teacher for the area of growth in quality of instruction.

Professional Development

Gateway Preparatory Academy has an aggressive professional schedule to enable teachers to gain the skills and knowledge necessary to teach using the Montessori Method, competency-based instruction methods, and integrated instruction methods that form the basis of the Academy's educational philosophy. This philosophy is vital to accomplishing the Academy's educational mission.

Professional development sessions will be available to teachers for a week prior to school, for one half-day per week, and for one day between each of the five six-week terms. The professional development schedule may be modified by changes or additional sessions added to the schedule.

Teachers will be given up to 200 points corresponding to the completion of additional professional development classes or sessions approved by the Director and designed to meet their growth goals.

It is anticipated that at the discretion of the instructors, professional development sessions will include numerous assignments to be completed by teachers between sessions. Completion of professional development assignments will form the basis for awarding up to 200 points.

Teachers will be able to earn up to 100 points by researching, preparing, and presenting an Academy Director approved professional development topic to school staff. A maximum of 100 points may be earned in this manner.

Parent Satisfaction

High Performing Teachers achieve high levels of satisfaction among their students' parents.

Once during the third term and once during the fifth and final academic term, Gateway Preparatory Academy shall survey parents on overall school operation, including five questions relating to satisfaction with teachers. Teachers may earn up to 500 points based on the survey results. The number of points earned is based on the percentage of parents rating their student's assigned teacher as satisfactory or higher on each of the five teacher satisfaction related questions, up to 100 points total per question.

The five survey questions will relate to satisfaction with student progress, student mentoring skills, communication with parents, instructional skills, and overall satisfaction.

The first survey is intended only to allow teachers to understand where they may need improvement. Only the answers to the second survey during the final academic term will determine the points earned by the teacher for parental satisfaction.