Tying Pay To Achievement Not
Easy As It Sounds For Teachers
BY SUSAN USHER
A seven-member committee of educators and
school board members will be working over the
next month to come up with a more satisfactory
way of relating improvement in student perfor
mance and extra pay for teachers.
At issue: How does a school objectively eval
uate or measure the impact of different efforts to
improve student achievement, and how do you re
flect those results in what teachers are paid?
A resolution and policy adopted by the Bruns
wick County Board of Education last spring re
quires that each school Performance Based Ac
countability Plan include a differentiated pay pro
gram "based exclusively upon improvement in
student performance as measured by objectively
quantifiable tests results..."
That means teachers would receive extra pay
if their class overall showed a certain percentage
of improvement during the course of the year on
standardized tests.
In subject areas such as music and art and in
administration, where standardized student test
scores could not be used to gauge improvement,
the policy called for basing differentiated pay on
overall school improvement in all areas tested.
However, the standard pre- and post-tests ad
dressed in the policy aren't going to be available
for every grade level and every subject, prompt
ing a need to revise the policy, Jan Calhoun, as
sistant superintendent for curriculum, told school
board members last month.
A committee comprised of Principals Diana
Mintz and Ed Lemon, teachers Thommi Arnold
and Norman Melton, school board members Bill
Fairley and Donna Baxter and Assistant Super
intendent Calhoun is to draft a revised policy for
review by the countywide Performance Based
Accountability Plan Committee at its Dec. 6
meeting. The policy will be presented to the
school board at its Dec. 13 meeting.
Calhoun said the tests are only available for
some core curriculum areas in grades four
through eight.
Progress of students in grades K-3 must be
evaluated through some other means. For students
in kindergarten through second grades, teachers
"I think it is very
important that we find
(a process) where we
measure directly
through student
performance and not
indirectly through
teacher effort while
assuming student
performance. "
? Bill Fairley, School Board
use a developmental checklist to mark off chil
dren's increased skill levels. Third grade is the
first year students take standardized end-of-year
tests.
End-of-grade tests are given for some high
school courses, but not all. In any case, there is
generally no test from the previous year or the be
ginning of the year with which to compare re
sults.
Performance Based Accountability planning
was developed by the state to give individual
schools and school systems a means of deciding
how to improve school achievement, and provid
ed a means ? differentiated pay ? to reward facul
ty and staff proportionally for their extra effort.
Last year, school board members questioned
whether some of the activities for which teachers
could earn differentiated pay at various schools
could be shown by an objective means to improve
students achievement.
"Most of the plans talk in terms of effort, not
outcome. That was the biggest problem I had with
them," said board member Bill Fairley, who draft
ed the original policy%"I think it is very important
that we find (a process) where we measure direct
ly through student performance and not indirectly
through teacher effort while assuming student
performance."
At most schools teachers and some other staff
members can earn points that are converted into
dollars by activities such as serving on commit
tees, tutoring students after school, writing grants
that are funded, participating in or leading staff
development workshops, taking coursework for
certificate renewal, reading books related to their
profession, attending PTA meetings and calling
parents.
At a joint meeting with the countywide
Performance Based Accountability Plan
Committee Monday afternoon in Shallotte, school
board members were questioned about the intern
of the policy and its limited means of evaluation.
Teachers suggest^ that the committee con
sider identifying mens for evaluating students
performance in addition to core curriculum end
of-year tests and find ways to make the PBAP
process more accurately reflect the entire school
program, such as the impact of resource and vo
cational classes.
Teachers also questioned tying some staff
members' performance to overall school perfor
mance and that of others to the performance of
their classes.
Next year, under changes proposed by the
state, schools would have to find ways to include
all school employees in their plan, including cus
todial personnel, clerical staff, cafeteria workers
and bus drivers.
Several teachers questioned the role of the
county committee in reviewing individual school
plans and recommending or not recommending
them for adoption by the school board, and that
individual school plans had to be approved by the
county before going to the state.
Calhoun reminded the group that the state al
lows local schools to add performance indicators
to their plans in addition to the 56 established by
the Department of Public Instruction.
He added. "That doesn't mean you can do
anything you want. You can't break the law and
the school board isn't going to abrogate its re
sponsibility (for the plans)."
DSS Board Criticized For Procedure
In Investigating Child Abuse Claim
BY LYNN CARLSON
A local businessman angrily criti
cized the Brunswick County Depart
ment of Social Services on Monday
for pursuing an unsubstantiated re
port of child abuse in his family and
says he will not allow case workers
into his home unless advised to do
so by his attorney.
However, Marvin Grissett left
Monday's DSS board unsatisfied,
with DSS Director Jamie Orrock cit
ing state law requiring an investiga
tion and home visit for every allega
tion of child physical abuse, "even
when it has been determined to be
unsubstantiated" and "no matter
how bizarre it is."
Grissett told the board his teenage
daughter was interviewed by a So
cial Services caseworker at school
after another youth phoned in a re
port that Grissett's wife had beaten
his daughter. Grissett said his daugh
ter told the worker no abuse had oc
curred.
DSS Board Chairman Percy
Woodard asked, "If we don't inves
tigate, how will we know it's true?"
"You go to the high school and in
terrupt a child in the middle of a
class schedule, and why continue to
pursue it when you find nothing?"
Grissett asked. "You say you have to
make a home visit. Is it the idea of
the power to be able to enter a per
son's home?"
Orrock passed out copies of state
law requiring all social services de
partments to investigate every alle
gation of physical abuse within 24
hours of the report. "The investiga
tion and evaluation shall include a
visit to the place where the juvenile
resides," the law states.
"Your department owes my wife
and daughter a big apology," Gris
sett said. "I do not abuse my chil
dren. I take care of all my family.
How I discipline my kids in the pri
vacy of my home is my business. I
will not allow (case workers) in my
home unless (my attorney) says let
them in."
Grissett charged that accepting
anonymous allegations "sets you up
as a patsy. If you believe in your
heart that what you're telling is true,
and you're a responsible person, you
will not have a problem giving your
name. Every person has a right to
know their accuser."
Orrock said he and Grissett had
discussed the matter earlier, "and I
told him we just had to make a
home visit to close the case, that we
had determined (the report) to be un
substantiated, that it would probably
take only ten minutes to get this
done."
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Grissett asked, "Then what you're
saying to me is that you have this
right and there's nothing I can do
about it?" He added, "If you want
me to spend my children's college
fund to fight your department, I'm
willing to do it."
Before leaving the meeting, Gris
sett told Orrock, "Someday your
children will have children, and I
can be very vindictive."
Grissett ran an ad in last week's
Beacon asking for people investigat
ed on "untrue and/or unjust accusa
tions^)" or who have been "ha
rassed by any government agency
for no reason" to appear at Mon
day's social services board meeting,
but none came.
After Grissett's departure, Orrock
said, "I'm sotjy he's upset. I had al
ready told him' we determined the al
legations to be unsubstantiated. The
solution was to give me 10 minutes
in his home. By statute, we have to
do that at some point."
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Braving The Cold
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