Another Chance for You to Learn More About Denver's ProComp Program

Last week the Christian Science Monitor featured a full-length article on the state of teacher performance pay, with special focus on Denver’s ProComp program.

It’s an especially great piece for someone who has little familiarity with the topic — as some of the leading figures are quoted: Brad Jupp from DPS, Phil Gonring from the Rose Community Foundation, Paul Teske from the University of Colorado Denver, and Kim Ursetta from the teachers union, to name a few.

Once you’ve read the article, if you still yearn to learn more, you should check out the Issue Paper Denver’s ProComp and Teacher Compensation Reform in Colorado (PDF) by my Education Policy Center friend Ben DeGrow. He’s glad to give other groups an “honest education in ‘professional pay'”.

If after reading Ben’s 2007 report, ProComp still intrigues you and you want to know even more, your next stop should be this book co-authored by Jupp, Gonring, and Teske.

Performance pay is the future. It’s an increasingly popular bipartisan reform issue. President Obama has talked it up. And while ProComp certainly is flawed — less flawed than it used to be with last year’s 2.0 upgrade — in many ways Denver has broken ground for the future. We just need to focus on making sure my teacher and thousands more like her are getting paid fairly and effectively for the ways they help me (and other kids) to learn better.

And maybe you’ll be able to thank me later for all the links to important information I provided on this groundbreaking teacher pay reform. Or maybe this is just one more in a litany of ProComp postings for you to peruse.

I don’t know. In any case, I’m going to run outside and ride my bike before that big snowstorm comes.