TX performance pay= no student achievement gains

Texas Educator Excellence Grant (TEEG) Program: Year Three Evaluation Report

The Texas Educator Excellence Grant (TEEG) program was state-funded and provided annual grants to schools to design and implement performance pay plans during the 2006-07 to 2009-10 school year. This report builds on the previous TEEG evaluation reports, presenting findings from three years of the TEEG program. Overall, the report discusses the participation decisions of eligible schools, the implementation experiences of TEEG participants, the manner in which performance pay plans were designed, and the program’s outcomes.

Findings suggest that school and personnel characteristics, the criteria used to select schools into the TEEG program, and the plan design features of TEEG schools’ performance pay plans influenced many outcomes of interest. The attitudes and behaviors of school personnel, school environment, and teacher turnover were certainly affected by these factors.

However, evidence suggests that there is no strong, systematic treatment effect of TEEG on student achievement gains. Nor are there consistent associations between TEEG plan design features and student achievement gains.



Governor's Educator Excellence Grant (GEEG) Program: Year Three Evaluation Report

This report presents findings from the third-year evaluation of the Governor’s Educator Excellence Grant (GEEG) program. The GEEG program was federally- and state-funded and provided three-year grants to schools to design and implement performance pay plans from the 2005-06 to 2007-08 school years. GEEG was implemented in 99 high poverty, high performing Texas public schools.

This report builds on the previous GEEG evaluation reports, presenting findings from a three-year evaluation of the program. Overall, the report discusses the implementation experiences of GEEG program participants, paying close attention to the manner in which participating schools designed their performance pay plans, and program outcomes. Findings suggest that school and personnel characteristics and GEEG plan design features influenced many of the outcomes of interest for evaluating the GEEG program.

The attitudes and behaviors of school personnel, school environment, and teacher turnover were certainly affected by these factors.

However, there is limited evidence that GEEG had an effect on student achievement gains, and no evidence that GEEG plan design features influenced student achievement gains.

Examination of GEEG’s impact on student achievement is limited by the criteria for selecting schools into the program, other state-funded performance pay programs operating concurrently with GEEG, and the likely volatility of student performance measures available to measure student performance outcomes.