Teacher Advancement Program

Established the Teacher Achievement Program that rewarded teachers and staff for students' academic improvement. This program grew to include five LRSD schools and led to state-wide teacher incentive legislation. Schools across the state can now compete for state funds to support such programs. The PEF supports forming a LRSD Teacher Achievement Study Commission made up of teachers, parents, administrators, and community leaders to gain further input into the design of teacher incentive programs. The Achievement Challenge Pilot Project began at Meadowcliff Elementary School in 2004-2005 funded by a grant from the Hussman Foundation through the Public Education Foundation of Little Rock. For the 2005-2006 school year, the project was expanded to include Wakefield Elementary School and was funded by the Hussman Foundation. The Little Rock School District funded the cost of the incentives at Meadowcliff Elementary in the second year of the project.

Three more elementary schools - Mabelvale, Romine and Geyer Springs - were added for the 2006-2007 school year. The Achievement Challenge project for these three schools was funded by the Public Education Foundation of Little Rock with grants from the Hussman Foundation, the Walton Foundation and the Brown Foundation. The Little Rock School District is funding the incentives for both Meadowcliff and Wakefield.

Principals, teachers and staff members of five Little Rock School District elementary schools shared in $242,507 earned through the district's Achievement Challenge Pilot Project, a program begun in the 2004-2005 school year in conjunction with the Public Education Foundation of Little Rock. The Achievement Challenge project directly provides incentive payments for principals, teachers and school employees for academic gains that exceeded a typical year of progress made by students on a standardized test.

Overall, four of the five schools reported above average achievement gains in a nationally normed test ranging from 8.5 percent to 0.1 percent. The fifth school saw gains in some individual classes but the school average score dropped by 4.1 percent. The five schools are Meadowcliff, Wakefield, Mabelvale, Romine and Geyer Springs.