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On March 10, President Obama declared that his administration supports “creating new pathways to teaching and new incentives to bring teachers to schools where they’re needed most.” He continued, “That’s why we support offering extra pay to Americans who teach math and science to end a teacher shortage in those subjects.” Full Circle Fund’s Alt Comp Dialogue Project Team and Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) have been working on this issue for over three years and recently partnered to lead the conversation during two highly successful back to back conferences on March 30th in Oakland and 31st in Los Angeles.

Over 400 school superintendents, leaders of teacher organizations, teachers and school board members came together to engage in this incredibly exciting statewide dialogue that has a huge potential impact on education in California, and the nation.

>Read the Welcome letter from Arne Duncan, The U.S. Secretary of Education (pdf)
>View the presentations, hear the audio, and download the handouts from the conferences
>Read the Oakland Tribune article here (download PDF)

“The goal of the conferences was to provide school districts and local unions with solid information and shared understanding about what’s happening in compensation policy across the country, and what’s possible in California,” said David Plank, executive director of PACE, which is a nonpartisan and independent research center based at the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Southern California (USC) and Stanford University. “Many districts sent teams that included both administrators and union officials. These local leaders were ready to begin a conversation about how teachers are paid and how we might pay them differently, and this conference helped them get started.”

The recently passed economic stimulus bill includes $200 million to fund innovative pay plans in up to 150 school districts across the country, via the Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF). “California is rightly known as a center of innovation in many fields,” said Jeff Camp, Education Circle Chair, “but we’re way behind the curve on teacher pay. The new TIF money gives California a chance to take the lead on this critical issue.”

Some of the conferences’ speakers were

• Brad Jupp, senior policy advisor for Denver Public Schools and a leader in labor-management negotiations that led to adoption of a pay-for-performance system for Denver teachers
• Representatives of school districts participating in the Teacher Advancement Program, which enables teachers to become a master or mentor teacher in order to earn higher salaries and advance professionally
• Dan Katzir from the Broad Foundation, who spoke about philanthropic support for new thinking about teacher pay
• San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Carlos Garcia and United Educators of San Francisco President Dennis Kelly, who spoke about a recently approved parcel tax that will fund innovations in teacher compensation

Others in attendance at the conferences were Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Ray Cortines, California Senator Gloria Romero (D-East Los Angeles) and a representative of the U.S. Department of Education.

>Read more about the work of the Project Lead Stephen Dodson and the Alt Comp Project Team which lead up to this incredible milestone
>Read about the recent $320,000 grant from The Stuart Foundation and The Noyce Foundation
>View photos from the Oakland event and the Los Angeles event (for Los Angeles, click on “secured view / ordering”, enter your e-mail address, password is Rossier)

To find out more about Full Circle Fund’s journey, watch a narrated slide show by Jeff Camp, “The Story of the Alt Comp Dialogue: 25 Members, 3 Years, 30+ Partners”

The conference was funded by:
The Noyce Foundation
The Stuart Foundation

with additional funding by:
California Federation of Teachers (CFT)
California Teachers Association (CTA)
Webcor Builders

and co-sponsored by:
Association of California School Administrators (ACSA)
Bay Area Council
California School Boards Association (CSBA)
Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce/Unite LA
San Diego Chamber of Commerce
Silicon Valley Leadership Group

Posted in Noyce Foundation, Stuart Foundation, Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE), Barack Obama, Stephen Dodson, Alt Comp Dialogue, jeff camp, impact, press, Alternative Funding, education