Florence School District 3 employees receive incentives

Employees in Florence County School District 3 schools on Friday received performance incentives for the 2007-08 school year for improved student achievement under the district’s Teacher Advancement Program (TAP).

The 293 certified and 258 classified employees were presented their payouts from Superintendent Beth Wright.

“The teachers in Florence District Three are to be commended for taking on the additional commitment of the TAP program in order to improve their students’ chances for success,” said Coordinator of the Teacher Incentive Fund Grant Dr. Patricia Chandler. “We are already seeing improved student academic growth from their efforts.”

The performance incentives were paid through a federally funded Teacher Incentive Fund grant to implement a financial incentive program for teachers and administrators who improve student achievement at high-poverty schools.

The South Carolina Teacher Incentive Fund (SCTIF) rewards excellent instruction and leadership through performance-based pay, professional development to help teachers and principals improve student learning, and new avenues for career advancement without leaving the classroom or the school.

Teacher incentives are not new to South Carolina, which has been a national pioneer in that effort. Many South Carolina schools currently participate in incentive programs that are designed to draw top-quality people to the teaching profession, and keep them there, by making teaching a more attractive and rewarding job. Effective teachers can earn higher salaries and advance professionally, just as in other careers, and they can do so without leaving the classroom, where they often are needed most.

At the same time, the program helps teachers learn more effective classroom strategies and holds them accountable for their performance.

The Teacher Advancement Program (TAP) recognizes that teachers work diligently to help their students’ grow academically. In a TAP school, teachers participate in intense staff development that focuses on the best ways to teach the children at their school. Student progress is analyzed all year — not just at the end with a standardized test. This allows teachers to modify their lessons and try new strategies based on the achievement of their own students all throughout the year.

In order to recognize the teachers’ hard work and academic growth for the school, the TAP program includes a performance incentive. This incentive is based on a series of formal observations of the teacher by certified TAP evaluators, achievement of the entire student body of the school and achievement of the teacher’s own students. Incentives were also funded by Florence District 3 for classified employees who also make up the school community and serve to play an important in the overall educational life of the students attending the district’s schools.

The TAP performance incentive awards were part of a professional development program for district employees featuring Stephen Peters.

During his 28 years in education, Peters has been a classroom teacher, assistant principal, principal and director of secondary education. Most of his experiences have been in schools that made significant growth in short periods of time thus, resulting in both National and State Blue-Ribbon distinction. Peters is founder of the nationally recognized Gentlemen’s & Ladies Club programs, which provide options for thousands of at-risk and honor students throughout the United States. Peters is currently CEO & President of The Peters Group, a national education consulting company.

He is the author of the best-selling book Do You Know Enough About Me To Teach Me, which is being used throughout the U.S. as an effective tool for reaching disadvantaged and at-risk youth. His newly released book is also a best-seller Teaching to Capture and Inspire all Learners (Corwin Press) and will serve as a catalyst for changing and sustaining school culture.

Peters has served on panels as an education expert with former U.S. Secretary of Education Dr. Rod Paige in Washington, D.C. He also serves on university business advisory boards, and Investment Group advisory boards where he is president. His mentoring and self-empowering program, The Gentlemen’s Club, has been featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show as well as “America, America,” which broadcasts to 2 million viewers in Portugal and Brazil.