Enterprise Dispatch Blog

What are your thoughts on Q-Comp, performance-based pay for teachers?

According to Schools for Equity in Education, Q-Comp is under intense scrutiny because the Governor is proposing to madate the expansion of the program to the nearly 500 school districts and charter schools. Currently, only 72 districts and charter schools participate in the voluntary program.

Q-comp is an alternative teacher compensation and professional development system which is the governor’s signature education program. Implemented in 2005, the Q-comp program includes performance-based pay, alternative teacher salary structures, on-the-job professional development, teacher evaluations and additional career opportunities for teachers.

This week, the House and Senate education committees heard testimony on Q-comp and the OLA evaluation. Of concern to the legislators was that the report revealed there is not sufficient evidence to determine if Q-comp improves student achievement. Question were raised that in these troubled financial times was it prudent to invest more dollars into a program that cannot demonstrate an impact on student learning when other programs such as early childhood, all-day K, and early intervention have researched records of increasing student proficiency and student success.

Commissioner Alice Seagren from the Minnesota Department of Education testified that now was indeed the time. She noted that the biggest impact on a child’s success in school, other than their parents, is the quality of their teacher in the classroom. She stated that Q-comp initiatives are centered on increasing teacher quality through teacher professional development. Yet, Rep. Marsha Swails, who is also a teacher in the South Washington County school district, noted that her school is using professional learning communities that meet once a week and accomplish the same type of professional development without the large price tag of the Q-comp mandates.

For more information, visit www.schoolsforequity.org.