Approval of Agreements for Technical Services for Creation of Assessment Items for STAR Performance Pay Program (Retroactive).

The following district employees created pretest assessment items for art and music courses during the winter holidays: Lynne Hellier, J. Kevin Lewis, Sandy Neel, Deborah Woodfin, and June Zenz. These pretests will allow art and music teachers to become eligible to participate in the STAR performance pay program. The pretests must be administered in early January in order to provide this eligibility.

Due to the time constraints imposed by STAR deadlines, we had to proceed with this work with the understanding that these agreements will be presented retroactively to the School Board on January 16, 2007. We informed the School Board of this as part of agenda item 8.01A at their meeting on December 12, 2006. A copy of that agenda item is attached. This action will help to ensure that art and music teachers will be eligible for participation in the STAR performance pay program.

Goal 5 – The district will eliminate the FCAT achievement gap by a minimum of 10 percentage points are reported by No Child Left Behind. Critical Success Factor 5.a (Recruit and retain high-performing teachers).

The cost for these five agreements is approximately $6,629. The total cost for the first phase of pretest development will be approximately $22,000.

The completion of the items put into a test form constitutes the evaluation. The pretest should be completed by January 2007, and the posttest completed in June 2007.