Last spring, Eden Prairie was one of the 25 districts in the state to take advantage of a program to change how teachers are paid.

Q Comp, or Quality Compensation, an alternative teacher pay program touted by Gov. Tim Pawlenty, runs on a simple concept: teachers’ pay is based more on performance than seniority.

According to a presentation recently given to the Eden Prairie School Board by Human Resources executive director Mary Bollinger, the Eden Prairie version of Q Comp has netted positive responses from observers/coaches and the teachers they work with.

In an interview, Eden Prairie Education Association president Mike Holm echoed that, among teachers, there’s a consensus that the coaching and observation aspect of Q Comp is very good.

“In general people think that is valuable.”

Teachers voted to try Q Comp last year. To continue this program it will have to be approved again by them in February.

While Bollinger and Superintendent Melissa Krull said they were optimistic about the chances that Q Comp will be adopted again, Holm was not so certain.

 “I’m hopeful,” he said about it being approved.

How it works

As outlined in her report to the school board, by adopting Q Comp, the district receives $2.6 million in funding to pay for it. This is money that has to go for teacher pay or staff development.

The district has linked Q Comp to one of its three district goals, closing the achievement gap.

There are five components to Q Comp. One is called the “career ladder” where classroom observers assess a teacher’s progress towards proficiency; a classroom coach helps teachers make that level of proficiency. The second component is related to professional development. The third component is the pay for performance plan. In the case of Eden Prairie, teachers choose 14 (out of 26) standards they must be proficient in to earn their award of $2,500, and move up a step on the salary schedule. The fourth component is the teacher evaluation system. The fifth component is the alternative professional pay schedule.

According to Holm, the reaction to Q Comp is really mixed. First there’s just the philosophical issues, he noted, the idea that that the only reason teachers would do better is because of an incentive.

“Eden Prairie did extremely well on our test scores last year,” he noted. And that was a year Q Comp was not in place. “That didn’t happen because of Q Comp.”

Other issues that have come up:

“The number of meetings that are required as a result of Q Comp is an issue,” said Holm.

Also, the amount of record keeping it entails can be burdensome.

“When time is short, they resent spending time on that,” noted Holm about teachers.

During her presentation, Bollinger also mentioned the issue of the time it takes for observers and coaches. She also mentioned that there are some issues with the software they use for this program.

“It isn’t working very well. We know that, we know exactly what to do about that.” She added that there would be a redesign in the software system in January.

One thing that is certain, having teachers observe other teachers in the classroom is a valuable component of Q Comp. Bollinger collected quotes from coaches/observers about what they thought of their jobs.

“The best part so far has been the professional conversations that have taken place,” was one quote included in the presentation.

She also shared quotes from teachers on what they thought of having another observer in the classroom.

“I enjoy the atmosphere of people talking with coaches, observers, fellow teachers in an attempt to become better teachers and achieve their 14 goals,” stated one teacher.