Office of Accreditation & Teacher Quality

Frequently Asked Questions:

• How does this award system work?
• Who determines the criteria for the school-based and individual performance awards? Will the criteria change throughout the life of the grant?
• How will those teaching in special areas such as FACS, music, special education, technology, and math and literacy coaches participate?
• If I teach in an INCENTIVESplus school, am I required to participate?
• If I receive an INCENTIVESplus award once, am I guaranteed to receive it again?
• How were the participating schools chosen?

How does this award system work?

South Dakota INCENTIVESplus awards fall under three main tiers. Tier 1 awards are based on a school’s performance as a whole. Tier 2 awards cover individual educators who meet certain criteria. Tier 3 awards are applied towards hard-to-staff positions. The dollar amounts of awards vary.

Who determines the criteria for the school-based and individual performance awards? Will the criteria change throughout the life of the grant?

School-Based Performance Awards will be determined by a school’s ability to make adequate yearly progress as measured by the state’s accountability system OR progress made in closing the achievement gap based on the growth model. That is the only criterion for the School-Based Performance Award.

The Individual Leadership Roles and Responsibilities Award will include criteria to judge the quality of the staff person’s involvement. In Year 1 of the grant, the only criterion for this award is participation. That is, if an eligible staff person participates in the Building Leadership Team meetings and/or collaborative work group meetings, that person will receive the award.

During Year 1, the local Building Leadership Team, with appropriate input, will identify additional criteria for judging the quality of involvement for Year 2. It will be the goal of the local Leadership Team to inform school staff of criteria in the fall of each year of the grant.

As the INCENTIVESplus school sites get more invested in the process, it is feasible that criteria may be increased or added over the course of the grant. Such changes will be data-based and include the input of stakeholders. While advancing more than one grade level in a given year might be to the benefit of students who are lagging significantly, the focus of INCENTIVESplus leaders is on steady positive growth with reasonable acceleration over time.

How will those teaching in special areas such as FACS, music, special education, technology, and math and literacy coaches participate?

In Year 1 of the grant, these types of teachers are eligible for a School-Based Performance Award as well as a performance award for Individual Leadership Roles and Responsibilities through their participation on a Building Leadership Team or Collaborative Work Group. An advisory group comprised of superintendents, principals and teachers will convene during Year 1 to establish eligibility criteria for other individual teacher performance incentives to be awarded beginning in Year 2.

If I teach in an INCENTIVESplus school, am I required to participate?

Yes. Eligible staff at participating South Dakota INCENTIVESplus schools are expected to participate in the program.

If I receive an INCENTIVESplus award once, am I guaranteed to receive it again?

INCENTIVESplus awards are one-time awards. Each new school year, candidates have the opportunity to receive an award but are not guaranteed an award simply because they received one the previous year. They must still meet the criteria identified for that school year. Incentive awards are not added to the salary schedule.

How were the participating schools chosen?

The federal Incentive Fund grant identified certain criteria related to poverty and performance for eligibility. The South Dakota Department of Education contacted all schools that met these criteria and invited them to participate. Thirty of the 39 schools eligible to participate chose to be a part of the grant process.