FIRST PGCEA educators honored
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Nearly 250 teachers from 12 Prince George’s County public schools were honored recently for their participation in the Financial Incentive Awards for Supervisors & Teachers (FIRST) Program funded by the federal Teacher Incentive Fund, which awarded Prince George’s County Public Schools $17.1 million.
The goal of the Prince George’s FIRST program is to address critical shortages of qualified teachers, improve educational outcomes in highest-need schools and speed the closure of achievement gaps by providing financial incentives to educators.
This year, for the first time, educators who volunteered to participate in the program received monetary awards based on their success in various components of the plan, including: hard-to-staff certification; professional development; leadership projects; performance evaluation; and student performance.
A classroom teacher who qualifies for each of the components and completes them successfully, and their students reach all achievement targets, is eligible for up to $10,000. On average, teachers received $5,000 for their work. Ten more schools were added to the program this year, and an additional 10 will be an added next year.
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The Prince George’s program is a stand out nationally because it is one of the few alternative compensation programs for teachers in the country with a high level of Local Association involvement.
From the very beginning, PGCEA’s leadership helped develop and implement the program through the FIRST Advisory Committee, which provides input at every level, beginning with memorandums of understanding that protect the rights of participating teachers through how the program analyzes student and school progress.
PGCEA leaders recognize the concerns educators have about pay-for-performance programs like FIRST, but their involvement has helped make the program one that many of the participating teachers have come to value and appreciate.
“The plan was met with guarded optimism by the membership at large,” said PGCEA Executive Director Lew Robinson. “But those who are in the program now have voiced no complaints. In fact, most report that they feel they were more focused on their practice with an improved support system.”
With the program’s success on raising student achievement as yet unknown, Robinson says that while PGCEA’s commitment is strong, the Association isn’t convinced pay-for-performance is the silver bullet to student achievement. “But,” Robinson added, “what we can say with confidence and certainty is that we have created a process by which management and the union can sit down and tackle one of the most controversial issues facing both parties and come away with a product that we both are pleased with. This in itself is a major accomplishment that opens the door for other work."
