Teacher performance based pay looks like it’s about to be shown the door in the Grand Canyon State. A judge ruled Arizona’s Career Ladder program unconstitutional because it isn’t open to all its districts. Expanding the program will cost $175 million—an unlikely feat as the state attempts to recover from the economic recession. The court gave the Arizona legislature a choice of expanding the program or ceasing it.
Implemented in the mid-1980s, the program aimed at increasing student achievement by recruiting top teaching talent. Rather than using a conventional schedule to shell out salaries, teachers were paid on demonstrated student progress. There has been no new funding since 1994, and only 28 of the 200 + districts in Arizona have implemented the program.
Too bad for the 28 districts (which educate one-third of the state’s students)—according to a 2007 study, the program works.
The study compared the Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS) scores between schools from both Career Ladder and conventional districts for two consecutive school years, holding constant school size, socio-economic status and location. Put differently, the model evaluated the AIMS scores only for like schools: upper-income to upper income, rural to rural, etc. On average, Career
