School safety, security, and violence prevention resource

This past year, New York City conducted a program wherein schools participated to meet certain performance targets.  The idea was that the educators whose schools met the performance targets were to get bonuses.  We’re nearing the end of the year, the results of the program have been announced, and it seems that the program has been successful.

The NYC Department of Education recently made this announcement on the web site:

Chancellor Joel I. Klein and United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten announced today that 98% of eligible schools have decided to participate in the second year of New York City’s school-wide performance bonus program. Of the 201 high-needs schools that were invited to participate, 197 elected to do so through a vote of school staff represented by the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) and with the principal’s agreement. On average, 89% of UFT staff members at these schools voted to participate in the program again. At 42 schools, the vote in favor of participation was unanimous. Educators at the 197 schools, which are located throughout the City and serve students at every grade-level, will receive monetary bonuses if their schools meet performance targets based on Progress Report scores. In the first year of the program, educators at 124 of the participating schools, or 62%, earned more than $20 million in bonuses for meeting performance targets.

Despite the good news, I am quite unsure as to how this bonus program has an impact on school safety.  Don’t get me wrong, I think that the bonus program is a good thing – it is an added incentive for the schools.  However, does it have a direct effect on keeping the schools safe?  The same sentiment is echoed by Kelly Vaughan in her article:

With 89% of teachers voting to keep their schools in the bonus program, it’s clear that teachers at participating schools were happy with the program’s first year. But more important is whether the program benefited students. On that question, the numbers are less clear.

Overall, 62% of participating schools, selected from among the city’s neediest, met enough of their goals last year to earn at least partial bonuses. Compared to all elementary and middle schools in the city, a slightly higher percentage of schools with performance pay met their targets. The percentage of high schools meeting their targets was about the same for schools with performance pay as it was for all schools. (The data for all schools include those for schools participating in the bonus program.)

I don’t have the answers to this question, do you?

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