2013-2014 ASPIRE Award Survey. Research Educational Program Report
Author: Houston Independent School District (HISD), Department of Research and Accountability
Date: 2015-12-18
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Teacher Salaries,Merit Pay,Teacher Attitudes,Incentives,Teacher Effectiveness,Academic Achievement,Value Added Models,School Personnel,Employee Attitudes,Surveys,Elementary Secondary Education

The purpose of the &quot;Accelerating Student Progress: Increasing Results and Expectations&quot; (ASPIRE) Award Survey was to gain insight regarding the level of knowledge and perceptions of Houston Independent School District (HISD) teachers and staff after nine years of implementation of growth-based performance pay in HISD, as well as their perceptions regarding the overall concept of teacher performance pay. Additionally, participants had the opportunity to provide recommendations to improve the ASPIRE Award program. Highlights include the following: (1) Of the 18,364 Houston Independent School District (HISD) campus-based employees surveyed, there were 4,031 participants who responded to the survey (22.0 percent) administered in December 2014. The response rate is fairly low and the results, while informative, may not be generalized to the population; (2) When comparing survey results over the last nine years, there was a decrease in the percent of respondents who were &quot;in favor&quot; or &quot;somewhat in favor&quot; of the concept of teacher performance pay from 69.2 percent in December 2007 to 49.7 percent in December 2014. When comparing January 2014 to December 2014, there has been a decrease in the respondents that indicated they were &quot;in favor&quot; or &quot;somewhat in favor&quot; of the concept of teacher performance pay by 3.5 percentage points; (3) Based on survey data collected in December 2014, the largest percentage of respondents (74.7 percent) indicated that over the past several years, they always collaborated with their colleagues; (4) When comparing the percentage of respondents that indicated they were &quot;in favor&quot; or &quot;somewhat in favor&quot; toward the concept of the Teacher-Performance Pay Model and to the ASPIRE Award Program for that year, it was first reported at 44.4 percent (December 2007 survey administration), reached a peak of 53.3 percent in 2009, and was most recently reported at 39.5 percent (December 2014 survey administration), down from 46.5 percent in January 2014; (5) Based on December 2014 results, a higher percentage of respondents &quot;strongly disagreed&quot; or &quot;disagreed&quot; that their maximum award amount was commensurate with their professional contribution, 48.1 percent, compared to 21.4 percent who were &quot;neutral&quot; and 30.5 percent who &quot;agreed&quot; or &quot;strongly agreed&quot;; and (6) Out of a total of 4,031 respondents on the December 2014 survey, 1,724 or 42.8 percent of the respondents provided at least one response for improving the 2013-2014 ASPIRE Award model. The six highest emergent categories based on the percentage of the responses centered on the following: make the model equitable, fair, transparent, and inclusive with clear expectations (12.8 percent); unintended consequences (divisive, cheating, free-riding) (11.9 percent); how the money should be allocated/reallocated (11.4 percent); factors perceived as impacting growth or the calculation of growth (6.9 percent); same earning opportunity/award is not commensurate with professional duties (6.0 percent); discontinue the award (5.5 percent).