For Teachers

Performance Pay - Outstanding Teacher

Eligibility

The intent of the Outstanding Educator designation is to honor teaching excellence in Douglas County Schools. The Outstanding Educator program is an annual one thousand, two hundred and fifty dollar bonus that rewards outstanding teachers who demonstrate and document teaching excellence during the academic year. This can be accomplished through a diverse and open system that allows individuality and creativity while maintaining consistent, district-wide guidelines. Several options have been developed to allow teachers choices in this process. All eligible licensed professionals, including classroom teachers, media specialists, counselors, speech therapists, social workers and psychologists interested in being designated Outstanding in Douglas County are encouraged to participate in this process.

Eligibility for Outstanding Educator

A teacher must have been evaluated at the proficient level on their most recent evaluation or satisfactory on their most recent growth plan in order to participate in the Outstanding Educator program.
All teachers who are on "regular" teacher status (in their fourth consecutive year in Douglas County) are eligible to apply for the Outstanding Educator designation.
All teachers who are on probationary status (in their first three years in Douglas County) will not be eligible to apply for the outstanding designation with the following exception: Any teacher who has completed at least three consecutive years of proficient teaching experience in another district will become eligible to apply for the Outstanding Educator designation during his/her second and third probationary years in Douglas County, as well as after attaining regular teacher status. He/she would not be eligible during the first full year in Douglas County.
If a teacher is deemed unsatisfactory on either the evaluation or the professional growth plan, that teacher may not apply for the outstanding designation in the following year. That teacher should instead focus his/her attention on the remediation plan and on improving performance to the satisfactory level. If a teacher applies for the outstanding designation in October and then falls below satisfactory sometime during or at the end of the school year, he/she may not receive the outstanding designation for that year.

Teachers applying for Outstanding designation for the second year

If you have applied for the outstanding designation in a previous year, you are encouraged to include new artifacts not used in a previous year's portfolio, but only under the following circumstances:

If you choose to use an artifact from a previous year, please include a copy of the original artifact along with your revised artifact. Please be sure to clearly label which is the old artifact and which is the new, revised artifact. The reflective writing should indicate how you evaluated the effectiveness of your teaching, the growth and insight you acquired through the process and through an additional year of teaching and how you have modified your teaching and your artifact accordingly.

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