If Derby’s students don’t improve on state tests next year, Superintendent Stephen Tracy probably won’t get a raise.
That’s the gist of a new contract amendment approved by the Derby Board of Education last week.
The contract now ties Tracy’s evaluations — and salary — directly to student performance.
“I do think in general that a public school and the educators in that school ought to take responsibility for the success of the enterprise,” Tracy said Monday. “In a school, that means kids learning. To me that seems fairly obvious.”
Tracy recommended the change this month, after a state educational think tank issued recommendations on how to improve schools in Connecticut.
Among several education reform recommendations, the Connecticut Commission on Educational Achievement suggests that teacher, principal and superintendent evaluations be linked to student performance.
The commission was formed by Gov. M. Jodi Rell earlier this year to consider why Connecticut has such a large achievement gap between low income and non-low income students.
Click here to read the group’s entire report.
It’s unclear if other districts are following suit. Members of the commission were unable to be reached for comment as of 3 p.m. Monday.
“I don’t think it’s been done too much throughout the state,” Derby’s Board of Education Chairman Ken Marcucio said. “I think he’s probably one of the first to do this. We praised him at the meeting for doing something like this.”
Tracy’s Contract
Marcucio said the new contract amendment — which was unanimously approved — takes effect immediately.
“It’s a win-win situation,” Marcucio said. “It’s tying his contract to how the kids perform on the test. I don’t see how you could lose on that.”
The evaluations will look at how much growth has been achieved on Connecticut Mastery Tests and Connecticut Academic Performance Tests.
Elementary students take the CMTs each spring, while high school sophomores take the CAPT. The scores are tracked, and help determine if schools are meeting goals under the No Child Left Behind act.
So if students make large gains on test scores, the district would consider that a success, even if those scores still fall below state averages.
Click here to read about the test results last year.
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Tracy makes $132,600, and is set to receive a 2 percent raise in January 2011.
He forfeited a raise last year because of budget restraints.
Merit Pay?
The commission’s recommendations suggest linking evaluations and pay to performance.
Tracy said that while his contract reflects both recommendations, he does not plan to advocate similar changes for individual teachers.
“I’m not a fan of individual merit pay for individual teachers,” Tracy said. “I used to be. But the more I thought about it, and watched efforts toward it rise and fall, the more I think it’s extremely difficult to do, and do fairly.”
But, Tracy said, he would like to see the district use student performance in teacher reviews.
Tracy already does so when he evaluates principals — but the student performance does not affect their pay, Tracy said.
Tracy said while poverty levels, school budgets and family involvement are factors toward how students perform, leadership also plays a strong role in how students perform.
“An effective school leader can influence the extent to which students see school as an important endeavor,” Tracy said.
“Philosophically, I think it makes sense,” Tracy said. “I said, if I believe it, I should start with myself. That’s one person I have control over.”
