Office of Accreditation & Teacher Quality

Just the Facts:

• What is it?
• Who will benefit?
• Why is it necessary?
• What are the incentives?
• How will we know it’s working?

Who will benefit?

Forty elementary and secondary schools in 10 South Dakota school districts will participate in the INCENTIVESplus project.

Why is it necessary?

Currently, teacher compensation in South Dakota reflects a very traditional approach. School districts negotiate with teacher unions to establish a salary schedule that sets the base rate for teacher pay with increments for “steps” and “lanes” that respond to years of experience and continuing education. Under this current system, the average teacher salary in South Dakota was $34,673 during the 2005-06 school year.

South Dakota INCENTIVESplus links performance and teacher pay, offering incentives to schools and individuals that are able to improve student performance. It targets high-need schools.

INCENTIVESplus also complements South Dakota’s new Teacher Compensation Assistance Program, introduced by Gov. Mike Rounds during the 2007 legislative session. That program provides $4 million of state funds to enhance local teacher salaries based on district instructional goals, market compensation or a combination of both.

What are the incentives?

Money from the INCENTIVESplus project will be distributed via a three-tier approach to participating schools and educators.

• The first tier will be school-based, with all principals and instructional staff in the eligible schools receiving awards based on student achievement at the school level. Award amounts range from $750 to $4,000.
• The second tier provides individual awards to principals and teachers based on factors such as effective individual performance, individual leadership roles and responsibilities, and classroom increases in student achievement. Award amounts range from $350 to $1,000.
• The third tier is based on recruitment and signing incentives for teachers in hard-to-fill positions within participating schools. Award amount is up to $5,000 per teacher.

How will we know it’s working?

An outside evaluator will implement a mixed-method evaluation by collecting, analyzing and interpreting qualitative and quantitative data. The evaluation will be designed to measure the impact of the incentive system and to evaluate its implementation.

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