The Equity Project (TEP) charter school teacher compensation and responsibility model¶

Element · All elements
Evidence · 6 claims (6 for) · 2 studies (2 causal), q3 · 0 of 2 report an effect size · 4 claims rest on one study

Description¶

TEP is a New York City charter school with what the report calls "a unique approach to rewarding and developing high quality teachers—including salaries of $125,000 and substantial professional responsibility." The model operates "while receiving only the standard public funds available to any New York City charter school," making the teacher-pay strategy the school's distinctive design feature. The evaluation links this personnel model to the school's measured achievement impacts.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Operates within the standard public funding available to any New York City charter school
• Operates as a New York City charter school serving students comparable to those in other city public schools, per the evaluation's comparison framing

Constraints¶

• Evaluated in a single charter school serving a high-poverty, mostly Hispanic neighborhood population
• The brief reports impacts through the 2012-2013 school year within a 2009-2014 evaluation; it does not print the salary mechanism details or statistical tests

Target Learners¶

• high-poverty, mostly Hispanic K-12 students in New York City charter schools
• K-12 students in New York City public charter schools

Target Learning Goals¶

• improving student achievement in math, English language arts, and science through teacher quality and retention
• Student achievement in math, English language arts, and science

Claims¶

• Students who attended TEP for four years had math test score gains equal to an additional 1.6 years of school compared to similar students in comparable New York City public schools [+W]
• TEP's achievement impacts were consistently positive across subjects and cohorts, with especially large effects in math, by the end of the 2012-2013 school year [+W]
• TEP's student population was similar to other neighborhood schools: high poverty, mostly Hispanic, with similar rates of special education services [+W]
• Four years of TEP attendance produced science gains equal to an additional 0.6 years of school relative to comparable NYC public school students [+W]
• Four years of TEP attendance produced English language arts gains equal to an additional 0.4 years of school relative to comparable NYC public school students [+W]
• TEP's cumulative four-year effect equals approximately 78% of the Hispanic-white achievement gap in math, 17% in English language arts, and 25% in science [+W]

Related Elements¶

Examples¶

• Reward and develop high-quality teachers through substantially higher salaries plus increased professional responsibility

Key Sources¶

• Joshua Furgeson, Moira McCullough, Clare Wolfendale, Brian Gill. (2014). The Equity Project Charter School: Impacts on Student Achievement. Cambridge, MA: Mathematica Policy Research. https://www.mathematica.org/publications/fr-the-equity-project-charter-school-impacts-on-student-achievement-final-report
• Joshua Ferguson, Moira McCullough, Brian Gill. (2014). Mathematica's Evaluation of The Equity Project Charter School: High Salaries for Teachers, Positive Impacts on Student Achievement (In Focus Brief). Cambridge, MA: Mathematica Policy Research. https://www.mathematica.org/publications/if-mathematicas-evaluation-of-the-equity-project-charter-school-high-salaries-for-teachers-positive