August 25, 2004

School District Ties Pay to Performance

WASHINGTON, Aug. 24 - As part of an effort at overhaul, the largest school district in Delaware will run a pilot project linking teacher salaries to student achievement.

The project, which is to begin in September 2005, was announced Tuesday by Joseph Wise, superintendent of the Christina school district, situated primarily in the city of Newark but including a section of Wilmington as well. It follows on the heels of a similar effort undertaken by the Denver public schools.

Dr. Wise said Christina planned to raise teacher salaries across the board and wanted to create mechanisms to reward its most successful teachers the most.

Andrew Hegedus, the Christina district's executive director of organizational development, said the schools there were turning to a new salary structure to reverse lackluster performance among middle and high school students.