Longer Year for Fairfax Teachers
Extended Contract Pilot Program Adds Duties and Dollars

By Michael Alison Chandler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, July 28, 2008

The last day of school for most teachers in Fairfax County was June 17, but you wouldn't know it at George Marshall High School. One day this month, the hallway lights were dim and the parking lot nearly vacant, but an English teacher was advising an ambitious student in a bare classroom upstairs, and three social studies teachers were mulling over Harry Truman and test scores in the library.

The Falls Church area high school is part of an $8 million, three-year county pilot initiative to extend teacher contracts into summer and encourage teachers to take on greater responsibilities, inside and outside the classroom.

With intensifying demands from high-stakes tests and an increasingly diverse student population, Superintendent Jack D. Dale said, effective teaching requires more planning and collaboration. "Teaching is a full-time job," he said.

Away from the whiteboard, some teachers are data analysts, combing through test results to set priorities for September. Others are curriculum developers, teacher trainers or researchers on instructional techniques.

Many teachers do some or all of these things on the fringes of their traditional jobs. By paying them for their time, Dale is trying to cement these roles in their careers. Whether he can expand the initiative in tight budget times is an open question, especially as class sizes are increasing and teachers countywide are getting smaller cost-of-living raises than they would like.

Schools nationwide are looking for ways to pay striving or successful teachers more so they can attract and keep talent. The District and Prince George's County are offering financial incentives for exceptional teachers in challenging schools. Arlington County is enabling qualified teachers to skip a step on the salary schedule.

Fairfax's move toward a year-round teacher schedule is unusual, said Allan Odden, a University of Wisconsin professor who studies alternative teacher pay and who has advised Dale. But Odden said the notion of giving teachers more responsibilities in exchange for more pay is gaining momentum in public education. He said a "cadre of teacher leaders" in a school has proven to be critical for student achievement.

Fairfax's "teacher leadership" program began in summer 2006 with extended contracts for about 600 teachers at 24 schools, issued through competitive grants. The contracts add nine, 14 or 24 days to the traditional 194-day schedule. They can increase salaries as much as 12 percent.

This summer, the school system gave an additional 1,100 summer school teachers extended contracts instead of per diem stipends. The shift meant a little more money for those teachers, partly in the form of retirement benefits, but it also meant higher expectations. The summer school teachers were selected through a more competitive process. And in elementary and middle schools, duties do not end with summer school: Teachers in the program are expected to follow student progress throughout the year and become "experts in intervention" at their schools, said Peter Noonan, assistant superintendent for instructional services.

Eventually, Dale hopes to have as much as 70 percent of the school system's 14,000-teacher workforce on extended contracts. But as officials seek to extend or expand the program in the coming year, they might face funding challenges because of a severe budget crunch.

Leonard Bumbaca, president of the Fairfax Education Association, which represents teachers, said that he supports paying teachers for extra work but that he is concerned the program might lack ongoing funding. In a year when teacher pay raises did not match inflation, he questioned spending more on a select group of instructors.

Other teachers have expressed concern that the program is confusing and funds a wide array of activities without requiring schools to clearly document progress. "Teacher leadership was never clearly defined," said Richard J. Baumgartner, former president of Fairfax Education Association and a McNair Elementary reading teacher. A school system-funded evaluation of the grant proposals also found that they lacked cohesion and that many lacked a detailed monitoring plan.

Leslie Butz, an assistant superintendent who oversees the teacher leadership program, said the first round of grants in 2006 encouraged schools to "be creative and try new things." The first evaluation came out last fall and showed some improvement in teacher collaboration and in reliance on research. Another is due in the fall.

The next round of grants, expected in the coming year, will require applicants to be very specific about which groups of students they are seeking to help and how they would measure progress in student achievement.

Several principals at schools that have received grants say teachers are learning new skills and students are making academic gains.

At Westlawn Elementary, 39 of 52 teachers have used extended contracts to create a three-week orientation and professional development program.

Typically, teachers have a few meetings "and then the kids are there," Principal Kim Dockery said. With extended contracts, new teachers have time to learn strategies from mentors and then observe them during summer school, which takes place simultaneously.

Marshall High is the only high school in the county where nearly every teacher has an extended contract. Drawing on research, teams from each discipline meet regularly to discuss what they teach and how they should teach it, including how to modify their approach for students who excel or struggle.

Rather than the traditional model, "where you shut the door and you are responsible for everything that happens there," the best way for teachers to improve is to share research and feedback and implement what works, said J. Timothy Kane, an International Baccalaureate history teacher.

In Marshall High's library, Kane and two other social studies teachers spent their summer morning studying results from the most recent IB history exam and analyzing a dip in scores in one area of the test. They reviewed what might have been different about the teaching in other areas. Three-quarters of their students scored a five or better on a seven-point scale. "That's very good, but you can always do better," Kane said.

Later, Kane grilled second-year teacher Susan Cimburek about Truman for a U.S. history course.

Without the extended contract, Cimburek said she would still be reading up on the 33rd president and preparing for school. "But here you are working with other people, and the product is better," she said.