At the June 18, 2015 school board meeting, Principal Gwen Carman, who serves as the quality oversight chair of the Q-Comp Program at School District 166 gave an update on how the Q-Comp Program worked in 2014- 2015 and what the school district was planning for 2015-2016.
Carman explained that Q-Comp stands for Quality Compensation Program. It is a voluntary program, she said, but the school does receive funding from the state by taking part. The purpose, she said, is to increase teacher knowledge and skills to improve student learning.
According to Carman, there are five components of Q-Comp—schoolwide goals, individual teacher classroom goals, professional learning communities, peer evaluations and mentor program.
Teachers receive Q-Comp pay for meeting specific goals. Teachers receive $400 if their school meets the schoolwide goals.
Participating teachers have their own individual goals as well. Carman said 38 out of 43 teachers met the goals set. Carman said this was despite “increased rigor” and a goal of 80 percent proficiency set on specified math skills, for 80 percent of targeted students.
Teachers receive an additional $500 Q-Comp reimbursement for meeting individual classroom goals.
For the schoolwide goals, Sawtooth Elementary and Cook County Middle School met the Q-Comp goals that had been set and teachers received Q-Comp schoolwide pay.
Cook County High School did not meet its schoolwide goal. Carman said the high school goal was that the percentage of students in grades 9-10 that met or exceeded their fall to spring individual growth projections would increase from 72.2 percent in May 2014 to 74 percent in May 2015.
The high school results show that 56 out of 83 students met the growth goals according to MAP testing, or 67.5 percent.
Carman said the high school was very close but said data was skewed because five of the 27 students who did not meet their growth goal were above their grade level scores in the fall, and continued that way into spring. Carman said if those students were taken out of the pool, 71.8 percent (56 of 78) students would have met their growth goal.
However, the high school teachers did not receive the $400 compensation associated with schoolwide goal achievement, but those that met the individual classroom goals earned $500.
In addition to student testing, Q-Comp requires teachers to take part in professional learning communities (PLCs). All of the district’s teachers read Ruby Payne’s A Framework for Understanding Poverty and Anton Treuer’s Everything You Wanted To Ask About Indians But Were Afraid To Ask and participated in discussion of the books and classroom growth.
Teachers also take part in peer evaluations and 16 teachers acted as mentors for 18 probationary teachers.
The school district receives approximately $120,000 from the State of Minnesota for Q-Comp, of which about $89,000 is paid to teachers and Q-Comp leader pay.
Board Member Terry Collins asked what happens to the funding if goals are not met. School Finance Specialist Lori Backlund said the money gets carried over to be used in the next year.
Carman explained changes proposed for 2015- 2016, which were minimal. She said next year teachers would rotate PLC duties, taking minutes, setting agendas and so forth. She said attendance at PLCs would also be criteria for Q-Comp reimbursement next year. Peer evaluations will have an added pre-observation form help with the assessment.
In other business
. The school board reviewed the changes proposed for the school’s attendance policy. The policy will be adopted at the next school board meeting on July 23, 2015.
. The board reviewed the research done by the Mathematics Curriculum Committee to date. The school budget has earmarked $150,000 for new math curriculum for all grades, but the committee members are carefully considering a variety of vendors using a comprehensive evaluation matrix. At this time, the committee was asking only for approval of the calculus/precalculus curriculum, a cost of $7,696.70.
The board commended the committee for its diligent research and unanimously approved the purchase.
. The board approved purchase of a new school bus for $90,973.19, with payments spread out over five years. The new bus can accommodate a student in a wheelchair.
. Superintendent Schwarz told the school board that the Industrial Arts expansion is on schedule and should be completed August 21.
. Bid opening for the bus garage replacement is scheduled for July 21. The school board will review and award bids at the July 23 meeting.
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