EPIC: Educator Performance Incentive and Career Pathways. Teacher and School Leader Program. Final Evaluation and Impact Study Report

Union County Public Schools (UCPS) received a U.S. Department of Education Teacher and School Leader Incentive Program grant in 2017, supporting the EPIC program aimed at transforming education in 13 low-performing, high-poverty schools. The EPIC initiative had two primary goals: redesigning the Human Capital Management System and Performance-Based Compensation System to attract, retain, and sustain effective educators, and enhancing teacher and school leader effectiveness to positively impact student academic achievement. UCPS implemented a Performance-Based Compensation System (PBCS) that provided monetary incentives to individual teachers and school leaders based on attendance, growth targets, and evaluations. The EPIC impact study evaluated the program's effects on student outcomes using a short-interrupted time series design with comparison (SIT-C), comparing standardized achievement scores in math and reading for Grades 5 and 8, and high school levels, with matched comparison schools. The study spanned five years, tracking proficiency scores before and after EPIC implementation. Results at the elementary level showed that neither the treatment nor comparison groups achieved the projected mean percent proficient in post-intervention years for math. However, the treatment group exceeded the mean in reading, unlike the comparison group. In middle schools, the treatment group surpassed the projected mean percent proficient in both math and reading, while the comparison group did not. At the high school level, neither group achieved the projected mean percent proficient in math post-intervention, but the treatment group exceeded it in English compared to the comparison group. Teacher outcomes indicated improvements in retention and diversity across EPIC schools. Seven of the 13 schools saw a substantial increase in teacher retention, and the percentage of teachers of color increased by 10 points over five years. Teacher attendance showed improvement, with a decrease in average days absent. UCPS's EPIC program demonstrated positive outcomes in teacher retention, diversity, and attendance, with varying impacts on student proficiency across grade levels. The study emphasized the need for cautious interpretation of data due to external factors like the COVID pandemic. [The report was submitted to Union County Public Schools.]