Carolyn Kelley

Exceptional and Innovative Programs in Educational Leadership.

Educational administrator preparation programs have received criticism for inadequate program quality. Despite these criticisms, there are a number of programs and features of programs that are both innovative and exceptional. This article reviews standards of practice and examples of strong preparation programs for school and district administrators. Common to all of the programs is a clear vision that drives programmatic decisions and provides students with opportunities to connect to the knowledge base through carefully designed field experiences integrated into the academic program.

Can Education Do It Alone

Abstract Public policy in the last decade has placed great expectations on education to energize the economy by producing a workforce with higher test scores and greater educational attainments. This paper argues that education requires a range of complementary conditions in order to provide a payoff and cannot do the job by itself. This argument is also extended to research which extrapolates longitudinal consequences of educational investments from cross-sectional studies of the relation between education and various economic and social outcomes. It is argued that this research also overstates the effects of education by not considering the complementary conditions that must be in place to realize the relation that is embedded in cross-sectional data.

The Motivational Impact of School-Based Performance Awards

This article examines the ways in which school-based performance award (SBPA) programs motivate teachers to modify or improve teaching practice. Qualitative and survey data from SBPA programs in Kentucky, Charlotte-Mecklenburg (North Carolina), Douglas County (Colorado), and Maryland suggest that SBPA programs motivate teachers largely by creating conditions that increase intrinsic rewards and focus teacher efforts, such as opportunities for professional collaboration, feedback on student performance, a clear goal focus, and alignment of organizational resources. Depending on the specific design, SBPA programs can also have negative consequences, such as increased teacher stress.

Teacher Motivation and School-Based Performance Awards

This article summarizes findings from a series of research studies on the motivational effects of school-based performance award programs on teachers in schools in Kentucky and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg (North Carolina) school district. Interviews and survey data were collected between 1995 and 1998. The research was framed by expectancy and goal-setting theories. The research findings suggest that teachers associate a variety of positive and negative outcomes with the programs, including the bonus. Teachers expressed a relatively high level of commitment to program goals. Teacher expectancy was an important predictor of school success, and expectancy was related to the presence of enabling conditions, prior success, and perceived fairness of the program. The findings suggest that program designers need to focus on setting realistic goals, providing enabling conditions for success, maximizing perceptions that achieving the goals will lead to positive outcomes, and minimizing stress reactions.

Risk and Reward: Perspectives on the Implementation of Kentucky's School-Based Performance Award Program.

This study provides a qualitative analysis of the Kentucky school-based performance award program. The study suggests that teachers were motivated by the program to modify teaching approaches to enhance student performance. The program also appears to have created relatively high levels of stress among teachers. Teachers and principals at six award-winning Kentucky schools reported attitudes and behaviors consistent with expectancy theory, goal-setting theory, and contingency theory.

The Kentucky School-Based Performance Award Program: School-Level Effects

This study examines the implementation of the Kentucky school-based performance award program in 16 elementary, middle, and high schools in the fall of 1996. Distinct differences were found between award- and non award-winning schools. Alignment of school goals and resources, including curriculum, professional development, and principal leadership were key enabling conditions associated with award schools. The state intervention strategy for helping initially unsuccessful schools enabled these schools to develop organizational conditions associated with award-winning schools. The data suggest a model of teacher motivation that builds on previous research in education and on empirical research on employee motivation.

Teacher Compensation and Organization.

Traditionally, teacher compensation has been viewed in isolation from other components of organizational reform. This paper examines changes in the conceptualization of schooling over time using an organizational lens, and considers how compensation systems might be better designed to match alternative organizational designs. Four different organizational designs are considered: scientific management, effective schools, content-driven, and high standards/high involvement. Implications of each design are considered for the development of compensation models which better mesh with current conceptualizations of schools and teachers.

The Effects of Organizational Context on Teacher Expectancy

This study examines factors affecting teacher expectancy through hierarchical linear modeling of data from two large-scale surveys of teachers working in schools with highstakes accountability programs. Teacher perceptions of program fairness, student performance feedback, lack of goal conflict, and principal support, as well as school level and reward history, were found to be significant predictors of teacher expectancy.

Financial Incentives for National Board Certification

Despite limited research on the use and impact of financial incentives for National Board Certification, financial incentives and award policies have increasingly been adopted at the national, state, and local level to encourage teachers to pursue certification. This study explores the use of financial incentives for National Board Certification, focusing on why teachers pursue certification; the impact of linking pay to certification; and the effects of Board Certification on the teacher, school, and district. Findings suggest that the presence and source of a pay incentive helped to shape interest, understanding, and appreciation of the Board Certification process among teachers and administrators. Consistent with other studies, our data suggest that the process of undertaking the National Board Certification assessment represents a significant professional growth experience for teachers. Implications for policy makers are discussed.

Payment for Results: Effects of the Kentucky and Maryland Group-based Performance Award Programs.

The research reported in this article was supported by Grant 97001184000 from the Pew Charitable Trusts and the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, National Institute of Educational Goverance, Finance, Policy-Making and Management, to the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE) and the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison (Grant OERI-R3086A60003). The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Pew Charitable Trusts, the National Institute on Educational Governance, Finance, Policy-Making and Management, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, the institutional partners of CPRE, or the Wisconsin Center for Education Research. We thank Tom Hruz, Jason Hanna, and Sal Castillo for their research assistance.