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Reflecting their satisfaction with a controversial initiative, teachers in virtually every school that participated in the first year of a school-wide performance bonus program voted to participate again this year, the Department of Education announced today. (Download the full list of schools.)

When it was first announced last year, the bonus program was received with skepticism by some who saw the union’s participation as a first step toward true merit pay. Teachers unions have traditionally opposed the idea of paying teachers differently depending on their students’ performance. The DOE’s program, in contrast, awards participating schools that meet their “performance targets” a shared pot of money that school personnel can decide how to distribute

With 89% of teachers voting to keep their schools in the bonus program, it’s clear that teachers at participating schools were happy with the program’s first year. But more important is whether the program benefitted students. On that question, the numbers are less clear. (more…)

At the same time as it is trying to trim its budget, the Department of Education today announced that it would distribute more than $8 million to high school teachers and administrators in schools with good progress report scores.

This year, the DOE is giving out bonus money to two groups of educators. A program for principals and assistant principals awards bonuses ranging from $7,000 to $25,000 for leaders of schools in the top 20 percent of progress report scores. Fifty-eight principals are taking home $1.3 million through that program.

A separate initiative awards pots of money to all teachers union members at schools participating in the pilot year of a school-wide performance bonus program. That program was open to schools the DOE considers “high-need,” and this year 39 schools that serve high school students chose to participate. Most of those, 85 percent, met the requirements to earn $3,000 per UFT member. A team of teachers at each school will decide how to mete out the funds.

An additional bonus program was eliminated in the budget cuts the mayor announced last week. That program would have given all schools scoring an A on their progress report an additional $30 per student in discretionary funds.

The school-wide bonus program this year is being funded with private investments. The DOE is paying for the principal bonus program, which accounts for $1.3 million of the total bonuses, with taxpayer dollars.

View an Excel sheet of schools that are eligible for the bonus programs and the amounts they will receive.