What Does Washington State Get for Its Investment in Bonuses for Board Certified Teachers?

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Washington State is set to spend nearly $100 million in the next two years on pay bonuses for teachers who receive national board certification. This investment is supposed to improve the state’s teaching force and encourage the most capable teachers to work in high-poverty schools. Does it accomplish those goals?

Governor Christine Gregoire's 2011–13 budget proposal called for suspension of annual $5,000 bonuses for national board certified teachers (NBCTs) and the additional $5,000 bonuses paid to NBCTs who teach in low-income “challenging” schools. Suspending these incentives is projected to save the state $99.5 million over the biennium.

This paper examines the available evidence in an effort to shed light on what the NBCT bonus program set out to do—namely, to reward strong teachers across the state and encourage them to teach in high-poverty schools—and whether it is achieving the desired effects. A study of the four years since the current incentive program began reveals that:

- The number of NBCTs statewide has nearly tripled, causing the state’s program costs to escalate by about $10 million per year;
- Even with an additional $5,000 “challenging schools” bonus, fewer than 1% of Washington’s NBCTs move from low-poverty to high-poverty schools each year;
- The proportion of NBCTs teaching in challenging schools is increasing, but only because teachers already in those schools are gaining certification and because the state’s challenging schools list has grown each year;
- Washington’s NBCTs appear no more likely than other teachers to stay in challenging school assignments;
- Some districts have worked hard to garner more bonuses for their own teachers. Per-pupil state NBCT bonus funding varies by a factor of more than 15 to 1 from one district to another, raising the question of whether bonuses are being distributed equitably across schools in the state.

“Not only has the $10,000 annual bonus failed to move effective teachers to high-poverty schools, it has also failed to make those teachers any more likely to stay in high-poverty schools than other teachers,” said the report’s author, Jim Simpkins.

Washington State provides $5,000 bonuses to those teachers who undergo and pass the rigorous national board certification process, a credentialing program that marks its graduates as among the best teachers. The evidence, however, on whether national board certified teachers (NBCTs) are actually more effective teachers is mixed.

In 2007, state legislators added a second $5,000 bonus for NBCTs who teach in a high-poverty school, defined as one where a large portion of students are on free or reduced-price lunches. According to the Center’s report, “ . . . less than 1% of Washington’s NBCTs move from low-poverty to high-poverty schools each year.”

In fact, the report shows, “The proportion of NBCTs teaching in challenging schools is increasing, but only because teachers already in those schools are gaining certification and because the state’s challenging schools list has grown each year.” The report notes that the number of NBCTs has tripled since 2007–2008, driving up the costs of the bonus program to almost $50 million a year. Now, in the context of the state’s ongoing budget crisis, Gov. Christine Gregoire has proposed suspending the bonus program in order to save $99.5 million over the coming biennium. Washington is not alone. Other states, including Georgia, Ohio, South Carolina, and Florida are also rethinking their NBCT bonus programs.

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