The average TIF bonus was about 4% of average teacher salary, below the 5% recommended by TIF grant guidance for substantial bonuses¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r? · q2
Currency · newest study 2015 · checked against its sources 2026-10-08 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? The average bonus awarded to teachers was about 4% of average salary, less than the 5% recommended by TIF grant guidance for substantial bonuses. → Chiang 2015

Evidence¶

Chiang 2015¶

Chiang, H., Wellington, A., Hallgren, K., Speroni, C., Herrmann, M., Glazerman, S., & Constantine, J. (2015). Implementation and Impacts of Pay-for-Performance: The 2010 Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) Grantees After Two Years (Snapshot). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance. https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/

q2 · i? · causal · r?

Implementation finding from the two-year TIF snapshot: the average bonus equaled about 4% of average salary, which the report notes is "less than the 5% recommended by TIF grant guidance for substantial bonuses". Descriptive figure; no effect size printed.

"The average bonus awarded to teachers was about 4% of average salary, less than the 5% recommended by TIF grant guidance for substantial bonuses."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Few districts structured pay-for-performance bonuses to align well with TIF grant guidance — related
• In the 2010 TIF pay-for-performance programs, over 60% of teachers received a bonus, with average bonuses of about $1,800 and top performers earning more than 3 times the average — related
• Offering pay-for-performance bonuses in 10 TIF districts increased student reading achievement by 1 percentile point after two years, with a similar-magnitude but statistically non-significant math effect — related
• Some aspects of TIF implementation improved between years one and two while others, including bonus awareness, remained challenging — related
• Providing educators with performance feedback and offering pay-for-performance bonuses can improve student achievement, with positive cumulative impacts on math or reading in some years — related
• Districts implemented most components of the performance-based compensation system throughout all four years, but fewer than half planned to keep offering performance bonuses once the grant ended — related
• Traditional salary schedules may not reward effective teaching or give the most effective teachers incentives to work in high-need schools, motivating performance-based compensation — related
• On average, states required less than half of eight RTT-aligned teacher evaluation policies, though RTT states required more of these policies than non-RTT states — related
• School improvement grant awards are small relative to the scale of needed change, averaging about $100,000 per school in 2020-21 — related
• TIF districts expected most educators would receive a bonus, inconsistent with guidance for challenging pay-for-performance — related
• A wage bonus incentive raised hand compositors' output by sixty-seven per cent — related