By John Mooney
Bonuses awarded to those who did stellar work but questions remain about how to deal with those rated as less effective
When it was signed almost a year ago, Newark’s new teacher contract was touted as a national model for rewarding strong teachers and for improving — or in some cases, getting rid of — weaker ones.
Especially noteworthy was that it was all done with the teachers union as a key and willing partner.
Now, after its first year, the rewards have come in, with 190 teachers in all receiving performance bonuses up to $12,500 for being deemed “highly effective.”
But the trickier piece has been dealing with the bottom of the scale, with 20 percent of teachers found to be partially effective or ineffective. And, at least in public, the partnership between the district and the union has seen some fraying over what comes next, to say the least.
“It’s a real mess,” said Joseph Del Grosso, president of the Newark Teachers Union, which signed the contract a year ago but is now questioning how it was implemented.
Some of this was to be expected, and it surely comes with its share of posturing — on both sides. Still, by all accounts, implementing the contract was always going to be the hardest part of an agreement that was a big departure from not just the Newark district’s history, but that of virtually every district in the state.
Signed off on by Gov. Chris Christie on one side and American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten on the other, the contract for the state-run district called for the New Jersey’s first large-scale performance bonuses for top teachers.
It also included an unprecedented peer review and “validation” component, giving teachers a role in the evaluation of fellow teachers and the development of plans for how they could improve.
The bonuses were announced with considerable fanfare last month, with the district saying $1.3 million in all went to the top-rung teachers, with the maximum of $12,500 going to those teaching both in high-need schools and in high-need subjects like math and science.
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