Current Pay-for-Performance Programs

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View state programs chart (pdf)

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Alternative compensation strategies have seen a significant resurgence in recent years as state and district policymakers acknowledge that the single salary schedule isn’t meeting their needs. The Center for American Progress supports differential compensation for teachers—that is, paying teachers differently based on their teaching assignments, skills, and ability to improve student achievement. Differential compensation has the potential to improve teacher quality, address teacher shortages in specific subject areas and schools, and ensure a more equitable distribution of effective teachers.

Programs that incorporate pay for performance are one type of differential pay strategy that has received significant national attention. Pay-for-performance policies are designed to improve teacher performance and attract and retain higher quality teacher candidates.

Pay-for-performance programs pay teachers in part for improvements in student achievement and many also reward teachers for demonstrations of knowledge, skills, or instructional performance. Bonuses are generally paid on top of a base salary, and programs may reward individual teachers, groups of teachers, or both.

Other types of differential pay include pay for knowledge and skills, career ladder programs, pay for teaching in high-needs schools, and pay for teaching in high-needs subject areas. Many of these programs that include pay for performance also incorporate elements of these other differential pay strategies.

The charts below provide descriptive information about a number of state and local programs that incorporate pay for performance.



View the full charts (pdf)

View state programs chart (pdf)

View district programs chart (pdf)

For more information on CAP's pay-for-performance research, see:

• Current State Policies that Reform Teacher Pay: An Examination of Pay-for-Performance Programs in Eight States
• The Future of Teacher Compensation: Déjà Vu or Something New?
• Teacher Compensation in Charter and Private Schools