M-DCPS RECOGNIZES TEACHERS’ WORK WITH PERFORMANCE PAY

MIAMI – Miami-Dade Superintendent of Schools Alberto M. Carvalho distributed performance pay checks to teachers today for up to $25,000, allowing some Miami-Dade educators the potential to earn as much as $100,000 or more for the year.

“We leveraged the financial benefit of Race to the Top (RTTT) funding through negotiation rather than imposition,” Carvalho said.  “By doing so, we are able to recognize teacher performance tied to student achievement.”

Miami-Dade is the first school district in the state to reward teachers for their performance under RTTT. The state does not require performance pay plans by school districts until 2014; however M-DCPS was able to achieve this goal thanks to the support of the union and the School Board members who have strongly maintained their commitment to local classrooms.
Funding for the performance pay plan, up to $14 million this year, came from a RTTT grant from the United States Department of Education.  Carvalho chaired the
Governor’s Working Group that developed a memorandum of understanding and a successful application that resulted in Florida receiving more than $700 million in RTTT funds, which equated to $350 million for school districts across the state.

The plan establishes four broad avenues for teachers to receive additional monies based on student performance.  The four categories based on student performance are:  related to the whole school; related to the content area within the school; related to individual teachers within the school; and Superintendent’s Progressive Teacher Awards. At today’s ceremony at Miami Beach Senior High School, 84 teachers received $4,000, 12 teachers received $8,000, 12 teachers received $12,000 and 12 teachers received $ 25,000 for a total of 120 teachers.  Those 120 teachers are part of the Superintendent’s Progressive Teacher Awards. 

Over 16,500 individual teachers will or have received a RTTT award at some level. More than 13,000 teachers have been recognized through student performance related to their whole school. Nearly 12,000 teachers have been rewarded because of student performance related to content area within the school and more than 500 teachers have been compensated because of student performance at their school.  

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