COMP NEWS – Job separation rates have remained high in the two years since the COVID-19 pandemic began, with educators being among the most affected professions. Recently, a study by the University of Colorado sought to determine whether a $2,500 bonus payment to Denver school teachers would affect the district’s job retention. Somewhat surprisingly, the study indicated that the bonus payment had no clear impacts on retention.
Yearly $2,500 bonuses intended to keep teachers at Denver’s highest priority schools had no clear impacts on whether those educators stayed on the job, according to a study by University of Colorado Boulder researchers.
The researchers compared retention at the 30 schools where teachers received the incentive to retention at similar schools where teachers did not. They found no statistically significant difference, the study says.
Nor did the bonuses attract teachers with higher effectiveness ratings to the schools, which serve a high proportion of students of color and English language learners, the study says.
Regardless, researchers conceded that the results of Denver’s teacher bonuses are not representative of retention bonuses as a whole. There have been others examples of bonus payments working in other educational systems.
The authors of the study note that in other states, larger bonuses than Denver provides have been successful at retaining teachers. The authors also suggested coming up with clearer criteria for which schools receive the highest priority bonus and better communicating with teachers their eligibility for the bonus and if they’ve received it.
In addition, the study added that awareness of the bonus program is important for its success.
If teachers “are not aware of the program, do not have buy-in, or are not notified when they receive those payments, potential program effects could be undermined,” the study says.
As retention programs are implemented, more studies determining their effectiveness and how to best promote retention will be released.
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