The move to partner excellence in teaching and depth in student learning with a banded compensation model places a school in a competitive position to attract families and exceptional teachers alike in a growing competitive marketplace.
The following example of one way in which this move can be implemented covers all the major concepts that need to be discussed and determined.
Teacher Professional Growth, Conversation and Compensation
This consult includes prework, 3 site visits over 10-18 months with significant work in between each visit, and consistent followup including executive coaching for two years after implementation. This generative process impacts the movement towards engaged learning, the focus on the academic leaders’ time in classes, the financial development of the banded compensation model and onboard administrators and teachers towards the changes. It moves a school from the “way things are” to the “way things ought to be”.
Outcomes
Cost
Please contact CSM to discuss your school’s journey and its intended route going forward.
Prework
Analysis of the current system and discussion with the school’s leaders to consider where the school is currently, and envisage where the school might be, and what needs to happen to change in this profound way. Issues discussed include:
Onsite Visit Overview
Visit One
Day One
What do I believe about children? Discussion of Mission and how it’s reflected in Portrait of the Child. Fishbowl with representative teachers speaking and administrators listening: “what makes an excellent teacher?” Debrief with administrators: “What did you hear?” Teachers listen, then facilitated discussion to prioritize ideas.
Day Two
Working in pairs including representative teachers and administration, identify basic professional responsibilities. Discuss in group, refine list. Working in pairs, identify higher order professional responsibilities. Discuss in small groups then larger groups. Refine list.
Day Three
Time with Head of School and business manager: analysis of teacher salaries, comparison to local public school, budget and scenarios for each of the next five years.
PM with school leadership: why the school is moving in this direction, each leader assigns each of their responsive teachers to one of 4 bands.
Day Four
School Leadership How do you feel? What did you hear? What’s on your mind? Share research on impact of compensation, trends in the teaching profession and careers of the future. How to take the work of basic professional responsibilities and higher order professional responsibilities back to the whole faculty over 2 separate meetings for the purpose of facilitating feedback.
Between visits consultants are available to leadership.
Visit Two
Day One
Representative teachers and administration analyze faculty feedback and refine higher order professional responsibilities. Take the Portrait of the Teacher to create criteria reflecting the portrait. Write a descriptor of each criterion. Share and challenge for refinement.
Day Two
Introduce 4 bands which represent the teacher’s journey from beginner to collaborator in the Christian Professional Learning Community, to a leader in the CPLC, to master teacher. Assign a different criterion to each group. The format of the work is criterion, descriptor of the criterion, descriptor of each band and then an example of each of the four bands.
Day Three
Administrators refine the work from the first 2 days. Using this work, administrators place each of their teachers in one of the four bands. This process and emotions are discussed within the administrative group. A separate meeting with HofS and business manager design scenarios with overlapping band ranges and their impact on the budget over the next 5 years.
Representative teachers will take this work to their respective teacher meetings to solicit feedback and refinement.
Between visits consultants are available to leadership.
Visit Three
Day One
Administration analyzes the feedback from teachers. The document draft is further refined and discussed. Administration uses the document to place a teacher in each band. Questions and discussions are recorded.
Day Two
Administration views the draft of the bands with salary ranges. Consideration of other criteria is discussed such as minimum number of years teaching before moving to the next band. Financial planning is essential since bands ideally change with each SAP/SFM every five years.
Day Three
The school administrator must now devote 40% of their time to being in classrooms, scripting and conversing with teachers. The scripting process, asking generative questions and documenting the process are discussed and practiced.
Day Four
Create the calendar for teacher professional growth, conversation and compensation process. Document the parameters for success. Discuss how the entire process and its document will be shared with all teachers. Remind teachers and administration as to why the school embarked on this journey and representative teachers and administration worked together with full teacher feedback throughout the process.
Note: because of the strategic implications of this, typically the school will carry out strategic planning before the process is implemented and/or after this process has been implemented to ensure that the school can sustain the model over time.
After Implementation
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. Coaching extends for two years.
