Group Incentive Plan Guidelines

School Year 2009-10
 
 

Group Incentive Plans are a component of the Douglas County School District (DCSD) Pay for Performance Plan and must meet the following criteria:

PARTICIPATION
 

Participation in a GIP is open to all administrative, professional and technical employees, with the
following provisions:
1.   The GIP is a voluntary program with all full and/or part-time administrative, professional and technical employees eligible to participate. Part-time participants must work at least half time. Participants may include individuals placed on the administrative, or professional/technical employee pay scale.
2.   110-day contract employees are not eligible to participate in GIP’s.
3.   Long-term substitutes are not eligible to participate in GIP’s.
4.   Employees on an Extended Leave of Absence (LOA) must be full time employees on the job at least one half of the school year in order to participate.
5.   Each administrative, professional and technical level employee may participate on only one GIP per school year.
6.   Employees should seek approval from his/her direct supervisor before submitting a GIP. Prior to beginning work on a GIP, the Group Incentive Board must approve the GIP.
7.   An employee’s decision not to participate in a GIP will not negatively reflect on the employee’s annual performance evaluation.
8.   The GIP coordinator or representative of the group should be available to answer specific questions regarding the plan. The date to meet with the Board will be published during the trainings.
 
 

COMPENSATION
 

The budget available to compensate administrative, professional and technical level participants for completed GIP’s will be managed and determined by the Administrative, Professional and Technical Group Incentive Board. Annual individual participant compensation amounts will be the same as those for successful participants in Teacher Group Incentive Program.
1.   The Group Incentive Board will monitor and evaluate GIP reports upon successful completion of the Group Incentive Plan. The identified GIP supervisor will validate GIP activities are completed.
2.   Upon completion of a GIP, the supervisor who signs the approval form for the GIP will submit the final report with a list of participants to Human Resources. Only those participants validated by GIP supervisors will receive compensation for participation in a GIP. Human Resources will submit each GIP Final Report to the Group Incentive Board for final approval.
3.   Payment for successful completion of a GIP, will be issued to participating individuals during the normal payroll cycle following the Group Incentive Board’s review and acceptance of the group’s Final Report. The additional stipend has been paid in a separate check in June.
 

GOAL SETTING
 

Goals should be specific, measurable (SMART goals). Data identifying the current state should be gathered before setting goals. Problem statements and identified causes should be used to guide the work of the Group Incentive Team.
1.   Goals must align with the Board of Education Goals (i.e. student learning, effective use of resources, and/or responsive governance) and Executive Limitations.
2.   Groups comprised of employees that do not have daily contact with students may develop goals to address system improvement issues.
3.   GIP goals should be clearly stated and measurable.
4.   GIP’s must be reviewed and approved by the Direct Supervisor of the participants involved in the GIP before submitting the report to the Group Incentive Board for final approval. Supervisors will forward all proposals to the Group Incentive Board, whose responsibility is to insure alignment to District Goals and Executive Limitations. The Group Incentive Board will also evaluate each GIP.
 

STRATEGIES/ACTIVITIES
 

The focus of all strategies and activities for a Group Incentive Plan should be on system improvement
and/or student achievement.
1.   Activities in which participants receive training or work with colleagues should directly link to activities designed to improve system processes and/or student learning.
2.   The majority of strategies and activities included in the GIP must be implemented directly with target groups.
 

ASSESSMENTS AND/OR DATA COLLECTION
 

1.   Assessments and other instruments administered to collect data are used to provide specific, timely feedback to participants regarding progress toward goals. Formative assessments (pre-assessments or on-going progress feedback), summative assessments (occurring at the end of the learning experience), or other methods to collect data to monitor progress should be used to determine the impact of the GIP. Assessments or other data to provide periodic progress feedback to GIP participants needs to be predetermined. Progress must be measured against a benchmark.
Proposed dates for assessment administration or data collection should be reflected on the Action Plan Form in the Timeline column.
2.   Results of formative assessments or data collection should be documented throughout the year in order to record and track growth toward the goal. An Interim Report must be submitted to the Group Incentive Board by the designated date each year.
3.   At the completion of the GIP, final reports need to be submitted to the Group Incentive Board with all documentation, including a list of activities, time invested in each activity, results achieved and individual participant reflection about the value of the GIP. Submit this documentation electronically.
 
 

PROCESS and GIP COMPONENTS

 
 

Step 1: Prepare a proposal by completing the Group Incentive Action Plan. This form will serve as a guide to GIP completion during the plan year. A description of the fields follows:
 

Participant’s Names: Name the individuals involved in the Group Incentive Plan.
 

Title of Plan: Name the project.
 
Contact Person: List phone numbers, fax number, and e-mail addresses for GIP coordinator.
 
Reviewed and Approved by Supervisor / Date: Identify which supervisor will monitor and validate the GIP has been completed. For site administrator GIP’s, a School Director will serve as Supervisor. For Professional and/or Technical Employees, identify a cabinet-level supervisor or division Director to serve this function.
 
Validate Need for Plan: Briefly summarize the need for the GIP. Why does the group believe this goal is important to address? The plan must reference data to support the group’s decision.
 
 
Which Board Goal or Executive Limitation will be addressed by this GIP? Identify which Board Goal(s) and/or Executive Limitation(s) will be addressed by this GIP. List the Goal or Executive Limitation and explain how your Group Incentive will support it.
 
Problem Statement: Identify the gap that will be addressed by this GIP. Explain how you determined this gap existed.
 
Cause: Complete a cause analysis and explain your findings in a brief narrative.
 
Target Groups: Who will benefit from this GIP?
 
Smart Goal(s): These should be focused on process or system improvement, and/or student learning and be SMART (Specific/Strategic, Measurable, Attainable, Results oriented, and Time bound). SMART goal definitions are attached to the Group Incentive Action Plan form.
 
Assessments: How will your GIP measure improvement? Explain methods utilized to collect data that may be used to guide and evaluate the progress of the GIP. Assessments and other data measures can also be tied to the completion of a strategy/activity.
 
What Treatment will you apply to the problem? Explain what activities and strategies will be employed to solve the problem.
 
How will the process or problems be improved by each treatment? Explain what you expect to happen after applying each treatment and/or activity in your GIP.
 
Timeline/Who: Dates when each strategy/treatment will be completed. Who is responsible?
 
Indicators of Success: What evidence will be collected that indicates each strategy/treatment has been completed (e.g. data/information summaries, meeting agendas and/or minutes, surveys, charts, artifacts, outlines, etc.)?
 
Step 2: Insure you have secured approval and support from a Direct Supervisor. Complete and submit the Group Incentive Plan Form (one (1) electronic copy) to LuAnn Hiler in Human Resources, Attention: Admin Group Incentive Board.
 
Step 3: Once the GIP Coordinator receives the letter or e-mail of acceptance from the Group Incentive Board Representative, the group should begin implementing the treatment/strategies outlined in the GIP Action Plan.
 
Step 4: Upon completion of each treatment/strategy on the GIP, document the information to support the Indicator of Success for the Interim and Final Report. Collect and archive any data summaries or other artifacts to support completion of treatments.
 
Step 5: Provide the Direct Supervisor who has approved your GIP with interim monitoring updates on the progress of your GIP. Upon the completion of the GIP, the Supervisor and Coordinator will verify the list of participants who completed the GIP (with employee ID numbers) and submit this list to LuAnn Hiler in Human Resources for payment.
 
Step 6: Complete and submit the GIP Final Report (one (1) electronic copy) to the validating supervisor by the designated date. The report must be limited to three (3) pages not including visual representation of data that supports indicators of success. The GIP Final Report should include the following:
1.  Compile and analyze the data collected and describe improvement towards the achievement of the goal(s) of the Group Incentive Plan (GIP). The report should include when possible a visual representation of the data such as charts, graphs, tables, and/or percentage breakdowns. Answer the following two questions in your final report:
1.  Based on the data, reflect on the strategies and activities that most impacted achievement of the goal(s). How will this learning be used to guide future decisions?
1.  How will the results of the GIP be shared with the participants and members of the school and/or district community?
2.  The validating supervisor must sign the report and forward it to the Group Incentive Board Representative for evaluation. The supervisor’s signature signifies the Group has completed the work and the results are accurate. The Group Incentive Board will make the final determination if the Plan meets the criteria for Group Incentive Plans