The Varieties of Knowledge and Skill-Based Pay Design: A Comparison of Seven New Pay Systems for K-12 Teachers. CPRE Research Report Series.

This report examines pay systems for teachers, focusing on knowledge and skill-based systems. Such systems reward teachers with base increases or bonuses for acquiring and demonstrating specific knowledge and skills needed to meet educational goals such as improving student achievement. The report examines a study of 6 school districts and one charter school, all of which had adopted some form of knowledge and skill-based pay system. Descriptions and comparisons are based on the programs' operation or design in the 1999-2000 school year. Data were gathered from interviews with administrators, union officials, and teachers; onsite visits; documents describing programs; and research done by districts to evaluate programs. The similarities and differences among the seven programs are structured according to seven comparison dimensions: (1) motivation for developing the knowledge and skill-based pay program; (2) process used to design the program; (3) knowledge and skills rewarded and their organization into a structure; (4) how knowledge and skill acquisition was assessed; (5) size and structure of knowledge and skill incentives; (6) how the acquisition of the knowledge and skills is supported; and (7) additional costs of the program and methods of funding. (Contains 7 tables and 43 references.) (WFA)