Staff rewarded for high TAKS scores
NISD Communications Department
August 31, 2007
Teachers and staff at nine Northside schools rewarded for high TAKS scores
Staff members at nine Northside campuses received almost $900,000 in "bonuses" this month through the Texas Educator Excellence Grant, also known as the state's teacher incentive program.
Valley Hi, Lackland City, Westwood Terrace, Meadow Village, Linton, Esparza, and Powell elementary schools, and Pease and Ross middle schools were selected as grant recipients because students received high scores or showed significant improvement on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test. The grant money is earmarked for schools that have high percentages of economically disadvantaged students.
Over the past week, Superintendent John Folks distributed checks to staff at all nine schools.
"It's not about passing out the checks - although that's a lot of fun," Folks said. "It's about personally shaking everyone's hands and to say 'thank you' for raising student achievement."
All schools must be rated Recognized or Exemplary under the state's accountability system, or show strong performance gains in math and reading. Each school received between $50,000 and $135,000, depending on the size of the school and the criteria met.
A lump sum is given to the school, which must appoint a committee to determine how to distribute the money. The only requirement is that 75 percent of the money go to teachers. At all nine schools, every single employee, including custodians and cafeteria workers, received a check. Amounts ranged anywhere from a few thousand to a few hundred dollars.
At the check ceremony at Ross Middle School, one of the biggest ovations went to Ignacio Carrillo, the head custodian who has worked at the school for 12 years.
"The main thing is to keep the kids happy and give them a good environment so that when they come to school everything is clean," he said.
Cleofas Arenal, a sixth grade science teacher at Ross, said he'll use the extra cash to buy books and supplies for his classroom, and something special for his wife.
"It makes you feel appreciated," he said after receiving his check from Dr. Folks.
There has been some controversy about whether it's right to give monetary incentives for high TAKS scores, and schools have struggled to figure out a fair plan for distributing the money.
But, "if the state's going to give us money and we can put it in the hands of teachers and staff, we're going to take the money," Folks said. "I don't look at it as incentive pay. I look at it as a reward for what you've done."
Laura Cintron, a third grade bilingual teacher at Lackland City Elementary, agrees.
"Last year we did a great job with our TAKS scores, but we didn't think about the money," said Cintron, who will use the money to help pay for her upcoming wedding. "We were thinking about helping our students learn and succeed."
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