Oh Day Aki charter school enters Q Comp program
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 28, 2006
Contact: Joe McQuillen, Office: (651) 582-8756, Cell: (612) 845-0083
OH DAY AKI CHARTER SCHOOL ENTERS Q COMP PROGRAM
~ Becomes the 5th charter school in the state to undertake professional development and achievement-based pay plan for teachers ~
Minneapolis – Commissioner of Education Alice Seagren announced today that Oh Day Aki (Heart of the Earth) Charter School will implement Minnesota’s nation-leading Q Comp performance and professional pay program. Oh Day Aki will be the 5th charter school in the state to opt into Q Comp, and will receive $51,220 in state aid for the 2006-07 school year for implementation efforts.
“We welcome Heart of the Earth Charter School into this nation-leading education reform initiative that is gaining great momentum in Minnesota schools and districts,” Education Commissioner Alice Seagren said. “Q Comp provides a modern and professional compensation system, as well as the opportunity for teachers to enhance and improve their skills, which can lead to increased student achievement.”
Last year, Governor Pawlenty proposed and the state legislature approved Minnesota’s Q Comp program. Q Comp provides up to $86 million for districts that join the program.
Q Comp is designed to advance the teaching profession by providing structured professional development and evaluation, as well as an alternative pay schedule that compensates teachers based on performance, not just seniority. The program brings together career advancement, professional development and compensation linked to academic achievement. It includes a locally agreed-upon peer evaluation process for every teacher that is based on skills, responsibilities and student academic growth. This plan is voluntary and will add up to an additional $260 per student in participating districts.
The Q Comp program gives participating school districts the flexibility to meet local needs within a comprehensive model of improved teaching and learning. At Oh Day Aki, administration and teacher representatives have agreed to the following:
Career advancement opportunities for teachers: The career ladder includes three positions with various duties and compensations. These positions are:
• Consultant (K-12 Reading Specialist)- Responsible for providing in-service for teachers. Observes and conducts pre/post observation conferences with team leaders, demonstrates and utilizes best practices in instruction, field tests new approaches to instruction to determine their effectiveness, works with team leaders to determine professional development needs of staff through peer review and collection and analysis of student data, serves on the leadership team, develops and implements a process for communicating with team members, assists in developing and implementing curriculum at the team level, provides the necessary information, encouragement and support to staff and team leaders, works with team leaders and executive director/principal in collecting and analyzing grade level team goals, works with team leaders and executive director/principal in determining if the site achievement goal is met and builds capacity in team leaders to provide staff development activities and follow-up. There is no salary augmentation for this position. It is paid through a CSR grant.
• Team Leader/Mentor (TL/M)- Responsible for six to eleven teachers who will operate as cross-grade level and cross-disciplinary teams to provide quality instruction for students. Observes and conducts pre/post observation conferences with veteran teachers, demonstrates and utilizes best practices in instruction, field tests new approaches to instruction to determine their effectiveness, determines professional development needs of staff through peer review and collection and analysis of student data, serves on the leadership team, develops and implements a process for communicating with team members, assists in developing and implementing curriculum at the team level, provides the necessary information, encouragement and support for team staff development, works directly with the executive director and/or principal in school wide planning and dissemination of information, works with the executive director and/or principal in determining if the site achievement goal is met, records attendance at team/professional development meetings and schedules parent conferences. A $4,000 salary augmentation will be given as compensation.
• Leadership Team- Members include: Executive Director, Elementary Team Leader, Secondary Team Leader, School Principal and K-12 Reading Specialist. Meets on a monthly basis to monitor the overall progress and effectiveness of the alternative compensation initiative, monitors reliable and timely observations, documentation of teacher improvement goals, attendance at professional learning community meetings and year-end student achievement results, makes recommendations as needed for changes to the alternative compensation initiative and serves as appeals board.
Job-embedded professional development: Heart of the Earth Charter School will improve reading performance on the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA) from the spring of 2006 to the spring of 2007 by increasing the percent of students who meet or exceed the standards. Of students enrolled as of October 1, 2006, 22% or more will meet or exceed the standard. This compares to only 15.55% who met or exceeded the standard in the spring of 2006. In an effort to achieve this goal, the school created two teams (a kindergarten through grade six team and a grade seven through twelve team). Each of these teams used disaggregated student data to set goals and measurable objectives. These goals and measurable objectives are:
• The kindergarten through grade six team will improve the performance of students enrolled on October 1, as measured by the spring 2006 to spring 2007 MCA assessment, so that the percentage of students meeting or exceeding the standards increases form 26.8% to 39% or more. As a benchmark for this goal, all students will increase their performance in reading comprehension as measured by meeting or exceeding the target goals of AIMSWEB. Teachers will demonstrate proficiency in delivering vocabulary instruction through the use of vocabulary building activities relevant to fiction and nonfiction texts.
• The grades seven through twelve team will improve the performance of students enrolled on October 1 as measured by the percentage of students meeting or exceeding the standard by 10% to 20% or higher from the spring 2006 to spring 2007 MCA assessment. As a benchmark for this goal, all students will increase their performance in reading comprehension as measured by the degrees of reading power (DRP) assessment by meeting or exceeding the targeted goals that will be set by the school for individual students based upon baseline data. Teachers will demonstrate proficiency in delivering vocabulary
• instruction through the use of vocabulary building activities relevant to fiction and nonfiction texts.
Performance pay: Teacher compensation will be based on the following factors:
1. $445 will be awarded to teachers who are proficient in all six rubric criteria following three observations/evaluations and who complete the professional growth plan
2. $1065 will be awarded if the team meets the focus goals as outlined in component two
3. $1065 will be awarded if the school wide gains outlined in component two are met
Objective and comprehensive teacher evaluation: Heart of the Earth Charter School will continue to evaluate six areas using a school generated evaluation system and rubric adapted from the Danielson model. Formal evaluations will be conducted three times a year by the three member evaluation team of the elementary team leader/mentor, the secondary team leader/mentor and the K-12 reading specialist. The first and third formal observations will be completed jointly by the team leader/mentor and K-12 reading specialist and the second formal observation will the completed by just the K-12 reading specialist.
Alternative professional pay schedule: Performance pay will be awarded as outlined in component three with much of the compensation awarded through the improvement of student achievement. Teachers will function as teams to gain the improvement that will be measured on summative assessments. This will afford the opportunity for the school social worker, Title I teachers, physical education teacher and special education teachers to become an integral part of the program. Compensation for meeting site goals will be graduated as follows:
• $1065 for meeting 100% of the goal
• $799 for meeting 75% of the goal
• $533 for meeting 50% of the goal
• $267 for meeting 25% of the goal
“This is a great opportunity for us as a Charter School to continue to train our teachers extensively,” said Oh Day Aki Director Joel Pourier. “This will have a positive impact on the students, the end result of which is closing the achievement gap.”
Oh Day Aki is a K-12 charter school, serving between 250 and 300 students with 28 faculty members.
Oh Day Aki Charter School is the fifth charter school to be approved for the Q Comp program behind Northfield School of Art and Technology (ARTech), Beacon Academy, Duluth Public Schools Academy and Sojourner Truth Academy.
Also, Minneapolis, Hopkins, St. Francis, Mounds View, St. Cloud, Alexandria, Fridley, La Crescent-Hokah and Marshall started implementing the Q Comp program during the 2005-06 school year.
Grand Meadow, Albert Lea, Alden-Conger, Brainerd, Wayzata, Eden Prairie, Red Rock Central, International Falls, Le Center, St. Louis Park, Osseo, Lac Qui Parle, North St. Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale, Clearbrook-Gonvick, Proctor, Burnsville and St. Anthony-New Brighton school districts will begin implementing during the 2006-07 school year.
Approximately 134 school districts have indicated to the Department of Education they are planning to submit an application for the 2006-07 and 2007-08 school years.
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