For compensation to work effectively, it must be tied to legitimate outcomes. In our case, this means that the tutor's compensation must be tied to job performance, effort in school, and academic achievement. It's been an interesting practice challenge to think about the best way to implement our system. We want to tie compensation into significant performance indicators - attendance, disciplinary records, benchmark assessments, grades, and standardized tests - and we want to recognize improvement more than mastery. However, these indicators all operate on different timelines. It's not easy to pay tutors monthly if we can only measure grades twice a year. Additionally, we must take into consideration the fact that adolescents do not enjoy delaying gratification.
Most recently (thanks to a helpful thought partner), it seems that having a two-tiered pay system makes the most sense. First, we'll provide tutors with a regular stipend for basic job performance. This will likely be approximately $40 twice a month. The second tier would involve the students' ability to accumulate bonuses. From very basic things like attendance (say, $.50 for every day they show up to work on time) to larger things (such as a $10 bonus for each percentile improvement in standardized test scores, up to a certain limit). These bonuses would be paid out at the end of each semester. By having this two-tiered system, we would allow students to receive immediate gratification for their after-school employment while also having a cumulative motivator for improvement in academic outcomes.
As we move closer to launch, these "nuts and bolts" issues will become increasingly important. The countdown continues...
Thanks, as always, for reading.
Mark
Founder and President - Reach, Inc.
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