Career Ladders

Abstract

Career ladders or lattices with incentives for teachers have become an important professional issue across the United States. Forty-two states to date have enacted legislation dealing with some phase of career ladder plans (Terrel 1984). The United States Department of Education (1984-85) has encouraged experimentation in this area and the Secretary of Education has funded several projects to test the feasibility of career ladder plans. Although no specific mention of career ladders was made in the National Commission on Excellence in Education report, A Nation at Risk (1983), many state reform committees have featured them in reform proposals. According to a report on career ladders in Great Britain by Michael Murphy (1985), career ladder plans are being implemented in increasing numbers in the United States for numerous reasons. First, they are consistent with the idea that people should gain responsibility, status, and pay as they grow in experience and acquire more work skills. Organizational theorists have argued for some time that individuals need new job challenges, periodically, in order to stay motivated and to sustain their role in the work place. Second, career ladder incentives are presented as an alternative to merit pay or across-the-board raise systems within the general school reform area. Many educational reformers are looking for replacements for the indexed single salary schedule operative in most school districts because this schedule rewards only seniority and additional training, rather than considering the value of the individual to the organization. Third, career ladder incentives can reflect merit without merit pay. That is, they allow school districts to identify, reward, and utilize competent teachers through promotion and other incentives. Teachers with proven ability can be better utilized by placement in leadership positions. They can be models to younger staff members and can promote better teaching in general. They can also contribute to the development of a good, workable curriculum that will enhance student learning and the professional work place. A career ladder concept offers incentive for teachers to grow, to develop new skills, and to meet new challenges. It is not a panacea for the ills of education, but it can make teaching a more rewarding occupation. It can become a powerful incentive to attract and retain qualified people in the profession. A career ladder concept can be effective in leadership development. A cadre of teachers placed in leadership positions would be the training agent for teachers who desire administrative experience. Because this concept promotes the sharing of leadership, more teachers care about school performance and more people are directly involved in school improvement. It motivates teachers to regulate part of their work lives and to participate in determining their rewards. This is a key to sustaining productivity. The following model is intended as a guide to be implemented according to the particular circumstances of the individual school district. Many of the alternatives reflect the results of a survey of teacher satisfaction conducted in two northwestern states (Engelking 1985). Several areas will be addressed: longitudinal career plan, including effective systems of teacher evaluation and supervision, long-term employment, participatory decision making and collective responsibility, and enhancement of the professional work place.