Analysis and Design Report

Hunterdon Central Education Association (HCEA) Salary Guide Training

Designer: Michele Bernhard

March 15, 2015

HCEA Salary Guide Training Analysis & Design Report

Table of Contents
Project Description and Goal Analysis ........................................................................................... 3
Goals ............................................................................................................................................... 4
Learner Analysis ............................................................................................................................. 4
Contextual Analysis ...................................................................................................................... 10
Task Analysis ................................................................................................................................ 13
Instructional Objectives ................................................................................................................ 24
Instructional Sequencing ............................................................................................................... 26
Instructional Strategies.................................................................................................................. 26
References ..................................................................................................................................... 30

HCEA Salary Guide Training Analysis & Design Report

Project Description and Goal Analysis

The Hunterdon Central Education Association (HCEA) needs to have an instructional
module developed in order to help association members understand their salary guides. Every
three to four years, the association must undergo contract negotiations with the local Board of
Education, at the end of which the association members are asked to take a vote to approve (or
not approve) the contract, which includes the salary guides for seven different groupings of
employees. During negotiations, the salary guides can be changed in a number of ways, based
on the goals of the association, the goals of the Board of Education, and the agreed-upon
settlement. The leaders of the HCEA have found that, quite frequently, when it is time to vote
on the contract, the members of the association do not understand why and how the salary guides
were changed. This can lead to members being unwilling to ratify the contract because they are
not in agreement with the salary guides, and it can sometimes even leave members feeling
unhappy with the association leadership because they feel that their salary has not increased as
much as it has in the past. The New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) recommends that
spending time teaching the memberships about salary guides is a vital part of the negotiations
process.
The leadership of the HCEA would like to have a self-paced instructional module
developed, with possibly some face-to-face sessions as well. The HCEA is comprised of three
hundred and ninety-nine members and includes a mix of teachers, nurses, secretaries,
paraprofessionals, technicians, custodians, maintenance operators and mechanics. Some of these
members work very different schedules than other members, making it difficult to plan
workshops at times when everyone can attend. In fact, when workshops have been offered in the
past, it was common for less than ten people to attend. As a result, a self-paced instructional

HCEA Salary Guide Training Analysis & Design Report

module is preferred by the leaders of the association because it would allow the association
members to access the materials at their own convenience, and would also allow them to work
through the materials at their own pace. In addition, while workshops on salary guides are
offered to local affiliates by the NJEA, some members of the HCEA have attended workshops on
salary guides but still come away without a complete understanding because the workshops
cover too much information in too short a span of time.
Main Goal:
Learners will develop a better understanding of the different factors that affect their salary guides
so that they will be more supportive of the choices their negotiating team had to make when
creating new guides.
Goals
Learners will be able to explain the relationship between base salary, increment costs,
and salary settlements.
Learners will be able to describe common problems with salary guide structures which
may affect their salaries in future years, and methods of fixing them.
Learners will develop an understanding of the different methods for distributing
settlement money throughout a salary guide in order to create new guides for a new
contract.
Learners will develop a better understanding of the challenges that their local association
and the NJEA face in protecting their salaries, benefits, and contractual rights.
Learner Analysis
The HCEA is comprised of three hundred and ninety-nine members. Two hundred and
seventy-nine of them are teachers, counselors and nurses, six work in the maintenance

HCEA Salary Guide Training Analysis & Design Report

department, thirty are custodians, fifty-three are paraprofessionals, twenty-two are secretaries,
seven are technicians, and two are mechanics. In regards to educational levels, work schedules,
and the type of work that these members do, they can generally be categorized as white collar
workers (teachers and counselors), pink collar workers (secretaries, nurses), and blue collar
workers (paraprofessionals, technicians, mechanics, custodians). It needs to be taken into
consideration that if training is to take place online, blue collar workers frequently have a more
difficult time accessing distance learning activities than white collar workers do, due to not
having sufficient access to the technology and work schedules that may make accessing the
materials a bit more complicated (Simonson et al., 2012). The teachers all have school-provided
computers that they can access the training on if it is completely computer-based; the other
members do not. It is possible that some of them do not even have home computers. Therefore,
computer access will need to be provided for any online training sessions for those who do not
have access to their own computers. Githens (2007) suggests that, when making decisions
regarding the design of computer-based training, special care needs to be taken to recognize that
workers with lower levels of education will possibly have different reading levels, a different
level of computer expertise, and more of a need for an environment that feels safe and
comfortable than those with higher levels of education (p. 334). More support will need to be
provided to these members during training.
42% of the members are male and 58% of the members are female. Gender can be
important in regards to this training need because salary guide training can involve a lot of math,
and women tend to experience more math anxiety than men do (Betz, 1978; Llabre & Suarez,
1985). In addition, the members of the association have a wide variety of educational levels.
70% of the members have a college education (primarily the teachers, counselors and nurses),

HCEA Salary Guide Training Analysis & Design Report

and 70% of the college-educated have a masters degree or above. Other staff members have
little to no college experience but do have technical training or training in the trades. Some may
only have a high school education. The more math classes a person has taken, the the less math
anxiety the person will have (Betz, 1978; Llabre & Suarez, 1985). Therefore, those members
with less education may experience more math anxiety than the more highly educated members.
If members are worried that the training will involve a lot of math, they may try to avoid the
training or may refuse to participate in it. Care must be taken to ensure that members do not
perceive the training as heavy in math, and that the training makes the math simple enough that
all members, regardless of education level, can understand it. Morrison et al. (2013) suggest that
it is important to design the instruction to engage the learner with the content so that it is
actively processed rather than passively read (p. 207), and this can be done by making sure that
instruction does not include just demonstrations of important salary guide calculations, but also
provides opportunities for the learners to perform simple versions of those calculations
themselves.
Members range in age from twenty-one years old to about seventy years old. 10% have
been in the school district for 21 or more years, 31% have been in the school district for 11-20
years, 30% of the members have been in the school district between 6 to 10 years, and 28% of
the members have 5 or less years of experience in the school district. This indicates that they
have been through one or less contract cycles. Due to the diversity of this population, the
members have very different needs and interests. Some members may feel that they are very
experienced with salary guides, while others will know nothing.
The older association members, the Baby Boomers, are frequently much more concerned
about the salary guides than the younger members since the salary that they are on when they

HCEA Salary Guide Training Analysis & Design Report

retire will determine their pension payment (Jurkiewicz, 2000, p. 59). Older members may have
more time to attend training as they have less family demands than some of the younger
generations since many tend to be empty-nesters (Beutell & Wittig-Berman, 2008, p. 518);
however, they may not be as technologically literate as younger members. On the other hand,
many of the older members can offer valuable information to the younger members about the
ways the salary guides have changed over the years, so it would be beneficial to provide
opportunities for them to share their knowledge. Due to the Baby Boomers wealth of
knowledge and experience, plus their positive attitudes, Jurkiewicz (2000) suggests the
importance of allowing Baby Boomers to serve as somewhat as a mentor for those who belong to
Generation X (p. 66). It is possible that a team approach to training might put the Baby Boomers
in this type of a position.
While older adults are a lot more capable and comfortable with computers and
technology today than older adults were years ago, the Baby Boomers do deal with some issues
that may make online learning difficult, such as a decline in working memory that may make
audio presentations that move quickly difficult to follow, declining eyesight which can be
mediated by larger on-screen text, and possible hearing loss (Githens, 2007, p. 335). Written
transcripts of videos would be helpful not only for those who have hearing issues, but also for
those who are visual learners. In addition, it will be important to design training so that it has
frequent review within the sessions. Githens (2007) also suggests that older adults tend to prefer
online learning that they can access at their own pace, but that also is informally structured so
that they have more control over when they can access the materials in the order they prefer,
rather than a prescribed order (p. 336). While Baby Boomers are quite capable of accessing and
participating in online learning, they have more of a need for personal connection than the

HCEA Salary Guide Training Analysis & Design Report

younger generations do (Jurkiewicz, 2000, p. 65). This can be addressed by having the
instructors reach out and make connections with these learners, and by offering opportunities for
connections and collaborations within the online learning.
Younger members, the Millennials, have very different needs than the Baby Boomers.
Many of them are single and childless, and some of them still live with their parents. They tend
to be free of family commitments (Ng et al., 2010, p. 289). Due to this, they may be more open
to training than the older members who have more family commitments. For many in
Generation Y, Change is a given and continuous learning a way of life (Sayers, 2007, p. 480).
In addition, Sayers (2007) recommends that training for this group must be relevant, interactive,
personalized, and entertaining (p. 485). They are generally used to multitasking, so providing
opportunities where they can work on bits and pieces of workshop materials at a time might be
beneficial to them. Gamifying the learning may make it more entertaining for them.
The members who have been in the school district between eleven to twenty years may
be the most difficult group to meet the needs of. Frequently, these members range in age from
about thirty to fifty years old, and could otherwise be known as members of Generation X. Many
of these members are married with children who live at home. Many of them have other
commitments after school, such as having to pick up their own children from daycare or school,
providing tutoring or participating in a second job to supplement their income, or advising afterschool clubs or coaching sports. According to Beutell and Wittig-Berman (2008), Xers strive
for balance in their lives, particularly between work and family, since they would be consumed
by work given the technology to work anytime from anywhere (p. 510). It will be important to
make sure that the training is offered in such a way that the Generation Xers do not feel that it is

HCEA Salary Guide Training Analysis & Design Report

one more thing that will interfere with their work life or their home life too much, perhaps by
offering instruction in short snippets.
It is typical of Generation X to be seen as cynical and pessimistic by other generational
groups, and research shows that they often view themselves this way (Arnett, 2000, p. 283). The
members of Generation X in the HCEA tend to be very concerned that they do not seem to be
moving through the salary guides the way they think they should be. During the last round of
negotiations, steps were taken out of the salary guides, the starting salary was increased, and the
steps were frozen for the past few years, and many members do not understand why this
happened. In addition, these changes to the salary guides resulted in those who have been in the
district for just a few years having salaries that are only three to four thousand dollars less than
those who have worked in the district for ten to twenty years, which has caused some bitterness
among this group. Therefore, it is important that this group understands why those changes were
made to their salary guides in the previous round of negotiations. Their experience with their
present salary guides may either make them more open towards the idea of training and more
motivated to participate in training because they are interested in understanding those changes.
On the other hand, some of them may resist training because of the bitterness they feel about the
previous changes to their salary guides, and the cynicism and pessimism that seems to be a part
of their generation.
Regardless of age or experience levels, no training on salary guides has been provided to
members of this association at any point in the past fifteen years, so it is a very high possibility
that even those who feel that they understand salary guides may not understand as much as they
think they do.

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The members of the association are mainly Caucasian. There are four African American
members, seven Asian, and nine Latino. These demographics do not have much relevance to the
training, since the training should not have any cultural implications. All association members
speak English, although for twenty-four members of the association, English is their second
language. This should be taken into account when considering the language of the training, and
the speed of the training. Because the training will include vocabulary that may be new to the
learners, it would be helpful to provide them with written definitions. In addition, for training
sections that are provided online, written transcripts of videos should be provided so that
members can take time to process the materials at their own pace.
Contextual Analysis
Orienting Analysis. Although members of an educational association are basically
forced to contribute dues, any involvement in the association more than that is purely voluntary
and it may be difficult to hold the association members accountable for anything that they learn.
In addition, attendance at workshops regarding association business or issues is completely
voluntary, unless one is in a paid position within the association. Some association members
may be intrinsically motivated to participate in the workshops because they will see the value in
increasing their knowledge of salary guides. When advertising for the workshops, it would be
helpful to include a reason why it is important to learn about salary guides in order to increase
intrinsic motivation to attend. It should also be taken into account that in this particular
education association, meetings are generally held when problems are happening in order to
discuss those problems, and, in fact, workshops almost never take place. It is likely that the
members associate any type of meeting, even if it is really just a workshop, with the idea that
some type of problem is happening. According to Karaali, Gumussoy and Calisir (2011), a

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person who believes that performing a given behavior will lead to mostly positive outcomes will
hold a positive attitude toward performing the behavior, whereas a person who believes that
performing the behavior will lead to mostly negative outcomes will hold an unfavorable attitude
(p. 345). Due to this, it will be important to try to influence participants view of the training
before the training even begins. Care will need to be taken to advertise this training in a very
positive light with a marked attention to the fact that there will be positive outcomes from the
training. It is possible that trainers can increase motivation to attend face-to-face sessions by
offering incentives, such as food and/or door prizes, and by finding ways to advertise the training
as a positive and fun experience. While these are superficial, they can put the learners in a good
mood for the training, which can result in increased attention and improved memory retention
and retrieval (Ormrod et al., 2009, p. 247-248). Learners often find it harder to maintain
motivation for an online class than a face-to-face class, so steps will need to be taken to address
this, such as by gamifying the learning. Gamification takes the motivational properties of
games and layers them on top of other learning activities, integrating the human desire to
communicate and share accomplishment with goal-setting to direct the attention of learners and
motivate them to action (Landers & Callan, 2011). While intrinsic motivation is definitely
more advantageous in learning than extrinsic motivation, Extrinsic motivation can certainly
promote successful learning and productive behavior, as evidenced by the effectiveness of
applied behavioral analysis (Ormrod et al., 2009, p. 226). Gamification would be a good way to
increase extrinsic motivation. However, it is important to keep in mind that in regards to
gamifying learning, older adults tend to do better with games that do not require users to find
subtle clues, do not move at a fast pace, but do allow time for the user to think things through at
their own pace (Githens, 2007, p. 336).

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There is much confusion over salary guides, and as a result, members who attend the
training will most likely find it useful, especially if the information is presented in a way that is
clear and not overwhelming. Due to the size of the campus, and the schedule, members rarely
have a chance to talk with one another and socialize regarding association issues that are
important to them. As a result, face-to-face sessions or online sessions that offer collaboration
opportunities might make the training sessions more useful than simply presenting the
information about salary guides alone without allowing for collaboration.
Instructional Analysis. Hunterdon Central Regional High School is located on a 72
acre campus and includes seven buildings. There are a wide range of facilities available on
campus for this training, from a nine hundred seat auditorium, a two hundred and ninety seat
theater, to classrooms that seat between ten to forty people. All are equipped with projectors,
full-sized screens in the front, and a speaker system. Computer carts can be brought in to any
room for those who may need access to computers. Training sessions will not be allowed to take
place during the school day; however, the facilities can be used at any time before 7:30 am and
after 2:50 pm as long as the room is reserved ahead of time. Classrooms are easy to reserve, but
the auditorium and little theater may need to be reserved several months in advance if a
particular day is wanted for use. Due to the size of the campus, members generally do not like
having to travel from one end of the campus to another. Therefore, it might be wise to schedule
multiple in-person sessions in various locations and at various times, both to make it easier for
members in different locations to attend, but also to accommodate the different work schedules
of some of the employees. Some members may prefer to meet before school while others may
prefer to meet after school. It is highly unlikely that members would be willing to meet on a
weekend or several hours after the work day ends.

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Transfer Context. After instruction, association members will not have to use their new
knowledge again for several months, if not longer depending on how long it will be until new
salary guides are developed and they are asked to ratify the contract. Skills may become
forgotten before next use. Future instructional plans could include re-sending the instructional
materials out to association members at the time the new salary guides are made available to the
membership as a way of reminding the members of everything they have learned. Some short
workshops could also be made available at that time to specifically go over the new salary guides
with the staff. In addition, once the contract is ratified, it will be another three to five years
before the association members need to recall their knowledge of salary guides. At that point, it
might be wise to repeat the instruction for any members who need a refresher or for new
association members who were not present for the original round of instruction.
Task Analysis
I.

What is base salary and why is it important?

A. It is determined by multiplying the number of FTEs (full time employees) on each
step times the salary, then adding up the steps. It is the total of the salary of
everyone in the bargaining unit, plus longevity and stipends. We figured it as of
October 2014.
1. Longevity - additional money paid to an employee above the salary guide.
Based on years of service to the district or the profession in general.
2. Stipends - additional money paid to an employee for extra duties, licenses,
etc.
B. Base salaries are calculated by making scattergrams.
1. Scattergram definition: A chart that shows how much money each step on

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the salary guide costs. We take each salary on the matrix and multiply it
by the number of people earning that salary.
C. Settlements are negotiated based on the base salary.
D. By figuring out the base salary, we are also agreeing on the current average salary
E. Base salary is calculated as of everyones salaries on a certain date.
F. The association and the BOE must agree on it before negotiations start.
II.

What is increment cost, why is it important, and what things influence increment cost?
A. Increment - What it costs to move up a step
B. You calculate increment cost by making a scattergram for the next year, then
figuring out what the base salary would be for the second year, then subtracting
the base salary of the first year from the second year. That is what it would cost
to move everyone up a step next year above what the salaries cost the previous
year.
C. Why are increments important? Why is it important to pay attention to them?
1. The more teachers who are at the top step, the less you are paying out in
increment costs.
2. The less we spend on increments, the more will remain for increases on
the schedule. In a perfect world, we wouldnt negotiate increments at all
(they would be a given), and we would simply negotiate improvements to
the salary guides
D. Factors that cause increment costs to be too high:
1. If starting salaries do not go up the same amount as maximum salaries go
up, the distance between minimum and maximum keeps increasing. This

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makes it more difficult to fund increment costs. Having starting salaries

increase when maximum salaries go up helps prevent increment costs
from increasing.
2. Bubbles/balloons - an abnormal separation between two steps on a salary
guide.
a) If a lot of people hit the bubble, the base salary will be very
expensive for that year, which results in less or no money going to
the rest of the staff.
b) Bubbles occur when:
(1) the settlement does not provide enough money to improve
all steps on the guide at the same dollar amount or
percentage. Therefore, more dollars are used at the
maximum step then the step preceding it, causing a large
increment (or bubble).
(2) a step was removed (the guide was compressed)
(3) when a step is artificially frozen; this usually occurs when a
district freezes its starting salary at the same time the other
steps continue to increase.
(4) When money is only placed on steps where members reside
3. Too many steps on a guide
III.

How do we get money, and what do we do with it when we get it?

A. What happens in negotiations with salary guides?
1. We first agree on the scattergram.

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2. Then we agree on the cost of increment.

3. Then we change that cost to a percent. The cost of salaries would need to
increase by __% in order to move people up a step the following year.
(For example, salaries would need to increase by 2.25% in order for
everyone to move up a step next year).
4. Then we bargain.
5. If we agree to less than that percent, people will not move up a step.
6. If we agree to more than that percent, we can move everyone up a step,
plus have money left over to distribute.
B. Methods for distributing the newly negotiated raise over the existing salary base
(the new money over the previous guide) and pros and cons of each method.
1. Across the Board Salary Increases - the negotiated increase is distributed
evenly
a) Advantages:
(1) Easy to negotiate
(2) Easy to implement
(3) Easy to explain to members
b) Disadvantages:
(1) Results in an addition of a step to the top of the guide each
time it is used - this prevents anyone from reaching career
salary level
(2) Bargaining power is diminished
(3) Districts are able to offer only a minimal increase at the top

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of the guide.
(4) Career earnings are a lot less than they would as a master
teacher
(5) Takes forever (or is impossible) to reach the top of the
guide
c) Interesting facts: In the 1970s, the master teacher salary guide was
what most people had. Over the next thirty years, districts added
steps.
2. Step adjustment plus guide improvement
a) Every staff member moves up a step (staff are adjusted to reflect
an added year of experiences). Remaining new money is
distributed to the guide in equal dollars or percentages (a persons
raise is the sum of their increment plus the raise received by their
new step).
(1) Equal dollar increases (more valuable for those at lower
steps) - over time, across-the-board dollar increases erode
the standard of living for those at the top of the scale.
(2) Percentage increases (gives more money to those with
higher salaries; difficult on those at the lower steps)(young teachers who feel that they will never reach the top
of the guide will not support percentage increases)
3. Maximum adjustment, step adjustment plus guide improvement
a) Establishes a raise to be applied to the maximum (those at the top

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do not need to move up a step; they simply need a good raise)

b) Remaining money is spent to adjust staff for a years experience
then to give raises to the other steps of the guide
c) Percentage increases on scale work best in this method
IV.

Best practices of salary guide development

A. Starting salaries should always be increased by at least the same amount as
maximums and never decreased
1. If starting salaries do not go up the same amount as maximum salaries go
up, the distance between minimum and maximum keeps increasing. This
makes it more difficult to fund increment costs. Doing so helps prevent
increment costs from increasing (which is what prevents money from
going to guide improvement)
2. When you increase starting salaries, there is NO cost to the settlement
3. The higher the base salary, the more the percentage increase will be worth.
The higher the starting salaries are, the higher the base salary will be.
4. Low paid teachers decrease an associations average salary and increase
the cost of the increment.
5. It offsets retirement to a smaller degree than if the starting salaries were
lower (less breakage).
a) Breakage = the amount of dollars saved between the salary of a
departing employee and the new employee who is replacing the
departing employee.
B. There should be as many advanced training/educational differentials as possible,

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with uniform differentials

1. Raises average salary.
2. The guide should not only reflect the value of a members experience, but
should also compensate them for additional training and education.
3. BOE pays in non-negotiations years.
4. The pension benefits are enormous.
5. As graduate courses become more expensive and tuition reimbursement
remains static, guide reimbursement becomes more important.
C. Increments should be uniform throughout the guide.
1. Bubbles - when a large increment occurs.
2. Bubbles cause the other steps to be underpaid
3. Provides for steady salary growth for everyone
D. Employees should reach maximum as quickly as possible.
1. In other words, guides should have as few increments as possible.
2. The quicker a member reaches maximum, the more years he or she will be
paid at maximum, which increases career earnings as well as pension
earnings.
3. The more teachers who are at the top step, the less you are paying out in
increment costs. The less we spend on increments, the more will remain
for increases on the schedule. In a perfect world, we wouldnt negotiate
increments at all (they would be a given), and we would simply negotiate
improvements to the salary guides.
4. Shorter guides have a higher base cost. This means the settlement

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percentage yields more dollars to spend on raises. (good for us, but more
expensive for BOE).
5. Tip: The longer a district pays a teacher less than the career rate, the more
money the district will save. The districts savings equals the teachers
career earnings loss.
V.

Salary Guide History and Present Challenges in Salary Guide Development and
Protection
A. History of salary guides
1. Salary guides were first created in the 1920s when few teachers had a
college education. They were a way of encouraging teachers to get at least
a bachelors degree, and sometimes even further education (Odden &
Wallace, 2006).
2. Salary guides were also created to stop the inequities that were occurring
in pay between men and women, minorities, and elementary teachers
versus high school teachers (Odden & Wallace, 2006).
3. The bases for paying differential salary amounts were objective,
measurable and not subject to administrative whim (Kelley & Odden,
1995, p. 2)
4. Salary guides originally only had about 10 steps, but over the years many
guides have grown.
5. It became a statute in 1954 as part of Title 18 with a one-column guide
that had 17 steps with increments of $150 (NJEA Collective Bargaining
Manual, n.d., p. 6).

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6. In 1963, the law changed to allow columns for education (NJEA

Collective Bargaining Manual, n.d., p. 6).
7. In 1978 the NJ supreme court ruled that a school board must pay
increments during the negotiations of a successor agreement (NJEA
Collective Bargaining Manual, n.d., p. 6).
8. Since the mid-1980s, districts have been restructuring their guides;
consequently, step number and advancement on the guide may no longer
directly correspond to years of experience (Understanding Salary
Guides, n.d., p. 41).
9. In 1985, the legislature repealed a law that used to require annual
incremental advancement on a teaching staff members salary guide
(NJEA Collective Bargaining Manual, n.d., p. 6). This basically means
that they do not have to move you up each year. That movement is
negotiable.
10. In 1996, the supreme court reversed the previous decision for teachers
only, saying that boards do not have to pay increments (NJEA Collective
Bargaining Manual, n.d., p. 6).
11. In 1999, PERC ruled that school districts did not have to pay increments
for support staff. In addition, PERC ruled that districts did not have to pay
longevity or horizontal movement (NJEA Collective Bargaining
Manual, n.d., p. 6).
12. The law provides very few requirements regarding teachers
compensation. Only 2:

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a) minimum pay for a full-time teacher is $18,500

b) a teachers salary cannot be reduced
13. Everything regarding salaries is negotiable.
B. Reason why alternatives are being suggested in education:
1. Public agencies, such as schools, are feeling pressures to drastically
improve product and service quality (Kelley & Odden, 1995, p. 4). People
feel that changes such as these will help support educational reform
efforts, reward excellence, and undergird a climate of educational
excellence (Kelley & Odden, 1995, p. 10).
2. Critics argue that the present system is unfair because it promotes
mediocrity by rewarding poor performers while failing to recognize
outstanding achievement on the job (Ramirez, 2011).
3. There is no legal requirement that boards continue to use the salary guide
model.
4. In fact, Boards are being encouraged by the NJSBA to investigate other
models. According to the NJSBA, The NJSBA believes that a districts
method of compensating employees should be based on a salary structure
that has a rational basis which reflects the goals and objectives of the
school system (Greitz, 2010).
C. Alternatives to salary guides that some are presently suggesting
1. Pay for performance (merit pay) - creates competitive rather than
collegial work environments (Kelley & Odden, 1995, p. 7) - pay for
increases in student achievement

HCEA Salary Guide Training Analysis & Design Report

23

a) Considered to be Arne Duncans highest priority (Rosales, n.d.) Race to the Top is a form of it
2. Paying workers for knowledge and skills, rather than just years of
experience or years of college education - for example, paying math and
science teachers more than other teachers (Odden & Wallace, 2006).
Skills-based pay systems...focus individual skill development on the
knowledge and skills necessary for the organization to accomplish its
goals (Kelley & Odden, 1995, p. 5). Skills could include:
a) content, curriculum, and instructional expertise (Kelley &
Odden, 1995, p. 5)
b) skills vital to important non-teaching functions such as curriculum
development, professional development...and parent outreach
(Kelley & Odden, 1995, p. 5)
c) management skills
3. Group-based performance bonuses - recognizes that student outcomes are
the joint product of many teachers working together in a school. They
explicitly encourage school staff to work together toward common goals such as improving student performance (Kelley & Odden, 1995, p. 6-7).
The benefit to this is that employees dont feel that they are pitted against
one another in competition for funds.
D. Reasons for having salary guides:
1. They are easy to understand and transparent.
2. They are easy to fund. It is easy for the school districts to know exactly

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24

how much money the staff will cost them.

3. They are objective. This helps reduce potential for discrimination in pay,
which can lead to workplace conflicts and discrimination lawsuits.
4. They help districts to attract and retain highly qualified teachers.
5. They can guarantee pay equity (equal pay for equal experience and
education).
6. They provide incentives to staff to increase their training.
7. They minimize conflict between teachers in order to encourage
cooperation and congeniality.
8. They can force a district to pay higher salaries than it would if there was
no guide.
9. They are predictable. Employees paid on a single salary schedule can
easily predict their future incomes
10. They work well in a collective bargaining environment.
11. Makes it easy for the school district to know what to pay a new employee.
Instructional Objectives
Goal 1: Learners will be able to explain the relationship between base salary, increment costs,
and salary settlements.
Objectives:
When provided with a scattergram, learners will be able to calculate base salary
with 100% accuracy.
When provided with a scattergram, learners will be able to calculate increment
cost with 100% accuracy.

HCEA Salary Guide Training Analysis & Design Report

25

When provided with a scattergram, learners will be able to determine, with 100%
accuracy, the percent that base salary would need to increase in order to move all
employees up one step on the guide.
Goal 2: Learners will be able to describe common problems with salary guide structures which
may affect their salaries in future years, and methods of fixing them.
Objectives:
Learners will be able to explain how bubbles in a guide affect increment cost.
Learners will be able to explain how length of a salary guide affects base salary
cost and increment cost.
Learners will be able to explain the how the distance between minimum and
maximum salaries affect base salary cost and increment costs.
Learners will be able to explain the relationship between horizontal columns and
career earnings.
Goal 3: Learners will understand how they stand to benefit from new salary guides.
Objectives:
Learners will be able to explain one way that new money can be distributed when
a settlement is lower than increment cost.
Learners will be able to explain at least one way that money can be distributed
when the settlement is greater than increment cost.
Goal 4: Learners will develop a better understanding of the challenges that their local association
and the NJEA face in protecting their salaries, benefits, and contractual rights.
Objectives:

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HCEA Salary Guide Training Analysis & Design Report

Learners will be able to list two reasons why salary guides were first created in
the early 1900s.
Learners will be able to describe at least two legal rulings that have negatively
impacted salary guides.

Learners will be able to name two to three alternatives to traditional salary guides.
Learners will be able to list five to ten reasons why the NJEA and the HCEA
prefer salary guides to alternative models of compensation.
Instructional Sequencing
The sequencing scheme that would be most beneficial with this content would be
concept-related sequencing based on both logical prerequisites and sophistication. Sequencing
instruction on logical prerequisites means that concepts necessary to understand another
concept be taught first (Morrison et al., 2013, p. 129). In order for students to understand the
best practices of salary guide development, they will need to understand the terminology and
mathematics that are a large part of those practices. Therefore, the terminology and mathematics
need to be learned first. They are prerequisites to the latter concepts. Sequencing based on the
sophistication of the material is also important. In order for students to be able understand their
own salary guides, it will be important for them to first understand smaller, less complicated
salary guides. As they grow comfortable with performing calculations on the smaller salary
guides, they can move on to more sophisticated salary guides, and more sophisticated concepts
regarding the salary guides.
Instructional Strategies
Objectives

Initial Presentation

Generative Strategy

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HCEA Salary Guide Training Analysis & Design Report

Calculate base salary.
(procedure/recall)

Explain what a scattergram is Give students the parts of a

and demonstrate how one is
scattergram and have them
developed.
calculate base salary.
Show examples of
scattergrams.
Demonstrate how base salary is
calculated from the
scattergram, moving from
simple scattergrams to more
complex scattergrams.
Explain purpose for calculating
base salary and the role it plays
in negotiations.

Calculate increment
cost.
(procedure/recall)

Explain what increment cost is. Give students a scattergram

Demonstrate how increment is
and have them calculate the
calculated from the
increment cost.
scattergram.
Explain the importance of
knowing increment cost.

Determine necessary
percent increase to
move everyone up one
step.
(procedure/recall)

Explain why increment cost is

translated into a percentage.
Demonstrate how to perform
the calculation.
Explain the role of percentage
in negotiations.

List several factors that RULEG (state rule (factor) then

increase increment cost. follow by several examples):
(principle/recall)
Go over the factors that
increase increment cost.
Show examples.

Give students a base salary

and cost of increment and
have them calculate the
percent increase.

Give students a scattergram

and have them identify
aspects of the scattergram
that could lead to a high
increment cost.

Learners will be able to Show a video that demonstrates Have students analyze the
explain at least one way
how a settlement can affect the
2011-2014 salary guides to
that a settlement that is
salary guide.
determine how the low
lower than increment
settlement of the last
cost will affect the
negotiations affected the
salary guide.
salary guide.
(principle/recall)
Learners will be able to Show a video that demonstrates Have students explain which
explain at least one way
how a settlement can affect the
method of settlement
that money can be
salary guide.
distribution they prefer and
distributed when the
why.
settlement is greater

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HCEA Salary Guide Training Analysis & Design Report

than increment cost.
(procedure/recall)
Learners will be able to Show video that goes over the
NJEAs list of best practices of
list several best
salary guide development.
practices for developing
salary guides.
(principle/recall)

Give students a list of ways

that salary guides are
frequently changed in the
negotiations process. Have
them determine which
changes are in line with best
practices and which are not.

Learners will be able to Review best practices.

identify one change that
was made to the 20112015 salary guides in
order to bring them
more in line with the
best practices.
(principle/application)

Have students analyze the

2011-2015 salary guides and
determine one change that
was made to them that is in
line with the best practices.

Learners will be able to

develop at least one
goal for the next set of
salary guides that
would help bring them
more in line with the
best practices.
(principle/application)

Review best practices.

Have students analyze the

2011-2015 salary guides and
determine one change that
could be made to them that
would bring them more in
line with the best practices.

Learners will be able to

list two reasons why
salary guides were first
created in the early
1900s.
(principle/recall)

Present video that discusses

history of salary guides.

Given a list of true/false

reasons why salary guides
were first created, have
students determine which are
true and which are false.
Have students list two
reasons why salary guides
were first created.

Learners will be able to

describe at least two
legal rulings that have
negatively impacted
salary guides.

Present video that discusses

history of salary guides.
Provide list of laws that have
affected salary guides.

Have students list two legal

rulings that have negatively
affected salary guides.

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HCEA Salary Guide Training Analysis & Design Report

(principle/recall)
Learners will be able to
name two to three
alternatives to the
traditional salary
guides.
(principle/recall)

Have students brainstorm

alternatives to salary guides.
What have they heard in the
news?
Provide overview of salary
guide alternatives.
Guide students in a discussion
of the pros and cons of salary
guide alternatives.

Have students list alternatives

to salary guides.

Learners will be able to

list five to ten reasons
why the NJEA and the
HCEA prefer salary
guides to alternative
models of
compensation.
(principle/recall)

Have students brainstorm

benefits of salary guides.
Present students with
additional benefits that they
may not have mentioned.
Discuss.

After demonstration, have

students work on teams to
recall the list of benefits of
salary guides.

HCEA Salary Guide Training Analysis & Design Report

30

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