(1) There is established a Pilot-Performance-Based Compensation System for school years 2013-2015.

(a) Beginning with the 2013-2014 school year, a pilot study will be conducted in Lamar County, Clarksdale, Gulfport and Rankin County School Districts as outlined in subsection (2) of this section. Measures of effective instruction, instrumentation, student learning growth and performance evaluation results will be collected. Reporting data from the pilot study will be disseminated to all school districts.

(b) The results of the pilot study in the four (4) districts in combination with Teacher Improvement Fund (TIF), School Improvement Grant (SIG), and Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) Districts will be collected and analyzed by the Mississippi State University Research and Curriculum Unit and reported to the Department of Education for policy recommendations.

Effective with the 2014-2015 school year, the school districts participating in the Pilot Performance-Based Compensation System pursuant to this section may award additional teacher and administrator pay based thereon.

(c) Beginning with the 2015-2016 school year, the Department of Education will develop proposed legislation based on pilot results for statewide implementation of a Performance-Based Compensation System.

(d) Recommended legislation will be reported to the Chairs of the House and Senate Education Committees and the Governor by November 30, 2015, for consideration during the 2016 Regular Session of the Legislature.

(2) The statewide performance compensation system for instructional personnel and school administrators must:

(a) Contain a qualitative measure of teacher effectiveness, a quantitative measure of student performance and a quantitative measure of student learning growth.

(b) Be designed by districts to support achievement of district goals in line with realization of the district’s vision.

(c) Include individual, school and district achievement goals and measures.

(d) Be designed to support effective instruction and student learning growth and use performance evaluation results when developing district and school level improvement plans.

(e) Provide appropriate instruments, procedures and criteria for continuous quality improvement of the professional skills of instructional personnel and school administrators and use performance evaluation results when identifying professional development.

(f) Include a mechanism to examine performance data from multiple sources, including opportunities for parents to provide input into employee performance evaluations when appropriate.

(g) Identify those teaching fields for which special evaluation procedures and criteria are necessary.

(h) Differentiate among four (4) levels of performance as follows:

(i) Highly effective.

(ii) Effective.

(iii) Needs improvement or, for instructional personnel in the first three (3) years of employment who need improvement, developing.

(iv) Unsatisfactory.

(i) Provide for training programs that are based upon guidelines provided by the department to ensure that all individuals with evaluation responsibilities understand the proper use of the evaluation criteria and procedures.

(j) Include a process for monitoring and evaluating the effective and consistent use of the evaluation criteria by employees with evaluation responsibilities.

(k) Include a process for monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of the system itself in improving instruction and student learning. In addition, each district school board may establish a peer assistance process. This process may be a part of the regular evaluation system or used to assist employees placed on performance probation, newly hired classroom teachers, or employees who request assistance.