Pay-for-Performance Teacher Compensation

Denver’s groundbreaking campaign to introduce performance-based pay for teachers captured national and international attention and has paved the way for similar efforts elsewhere. In this book, Phil Gonring, Paul Teske, and Brad Jupp—among the key players in this successful come-from-behind campaign—offer the inside story of the ProComp initiative. They describe how entrepreneurial behavior within the teachers union and support from outside philanthropic groups propelled the plan from a cutting-edge concept into concrete policy.

Based on unprecedented labor-management collaboration, the newly implemented ProComp compensation plan is the most advanced in the country. Each teacher’s pay is based on several factors: evaluated performance, professional development efforts, and willingness to work with at-risk populations, as well as student achievement. Denver’s ProComp plan has raised the debate over teacher compensation to a new level.