Teacher Compensation: Moving from Grid to Impact

The move to partner excellence in teaching and depth in children’s learning with an impact-based compensation model places a school in a competitive position to attract families and exceptional teachers alike in a rapidly changing culture. We all know that the 1921 grid model is no longer serving us well. Teachers are in short supply. Finding excellent teachers is even harder. Thinking about compensation opens up an in depth opportunity to think about how we develop teachers from the beginning of their career/vocation to the end over a 40 year process.

CSM calls this process Teacher Professional Growth, Conversation and Compensation. It is an innovative and challenging two year process that asks the school’s academic and teacher leadership to honestly examine teaching and every child success from A to Z. Schools should consider this process when:

• The school has matured its finances, made enormous progress in the Key Performance Indicators, and brought teacher salaries to at least 80% of the local public school grid.
• Teachers are committed to improving their practice and want deep support to do that.
• Academic leaders are dissatisfied with the status quo in support and evaluation of teachers, their use of time in being with teachers on their journey, and want to take the school’s mission delivery to the next level.
• The Board has decided that a strategic goal is to improve teacher compensation but wants a process that ensures there is accountability for the investment.

The outcomes are exceptional:

• A recruiter and retainer of the most excellent teachers.
• A change in the experience of the child reflective of your Portrait of the Child.
• A highly effective academic leader who prioritizes time in classrooms and facilitates deep conversations with teachers about pedagogy and practice.
• Reflective practices as a result of deeper conversations between teacher and administrator, teacher and child, teacher and teacher and within a Christian Professional Learning Community.
• Ensures each child succeeds within a joyful learning environment.
• An overlapping banded model of compensation that prioritizes each teacher’s impact on engagement of children in their care rather than years of experience and degrees.
• A process and outcome attractive to philanthropic donors.

Executive Coaching for Academic Leaders

Coaching provides ongoing support, modeling, encouragement, challenge, advice and counsel. A complex undertaking such as this is not implemented overnight. Ongoing coaching is essential to ensure deep implementation. Each academic leader is at a different place in their own educational and leadership journey. Coaching will look different for each one.