Sample Career Ladder Plan For Districts


III. & IV. Each career ladder stage shall contain specific qualifications to be completed prior to application... ...responsibilities commensurate and adjustable to the compensation offered for that stage that will be completed by the teacher while on the Career Ladder. These responsibilities shall be directly and obviously related to ..... Responsibilities shall be detailed in the teachers CDP.

In order to participate a Sunshine R-O educator shall meet the following qualifications prior to participation:


Stage I | Stage II | Stage III

Stage I

  1. Five (5) years teaching experience in the Missouri public schools.
  2. On the Performance Based Teacher Evaluation - the educator shall have performed at the expected level or above on all criteria on the most recent final evaluation instrument of the PBTE.
  3. Be serving on not less than a regular length full time contract.
  4. Have appropriate certification except upon good cause shown.
  5. Have developed a Career Development Plan (CDP) that contains responsibilities that the educator will assume in order to receive his/her Career Ladder supplemental pay. The educator will complete a minimum of 2 responsibilities.[The district shall designate at this point the number of hours required for Stage I. This requirement should coincide with the standard* and be commensurate and adjustable to the compensation offered for Stage I.] The educator shall relate each responsibility to an identified plan or other instructional improvement on Form C. This plan will be typed and be prepared on the forms supplied at the end of this plan.
  6. The Sunshine R-O District chooses to require that educators participating on Stage I of the Career Ladder also show evidence of 9 hours college credit above the bachelors degree that directly relate to their teaching area or prepares them for additional certification.

Stage II

  1. Successful completion of the Stage I CDP. To qualify for Stage II, a teacher shall have completed a CDP and two (2) years of service on Stage I of the Career Ladder. One year of service on the previous stage may be waived by the local Board of Education based upon a total of seven (7) years teaching in the public schools.
  2. On the Performance Based Teacher Evaluation - the educator shall have performed at the expected level or above on all criteria and above the expected level on at least 10% of the criteria on the most recent final evaluation instrument of the PBTE. One of the criteria that is above the expected level shall be in the instructional process area for teachers and librarians, guidance counseling process area for counselors and the process area most closely related to specific job performance as it relates to students for school psychological examiners, parents as teachers educators, school psychologists, special education diagnosticians and speech pathologists. In order to identify such performance, the following process may be employed:
    1. At the beginning of the year preceding movement to Stage II, the Career Ladder educator will identify, in collaboration with that educators evaluator, those criteria on which the teacher feels she/he is performing and will continue to perform above the level of expectation.
    2. The process for documenting these criteria will clearly specify the behaviors to be evaluated, the manner in which they will be evaluated and the evaluation criteria to be employed.
    3. During the school year, the educator will be evaluated through the formative evaluation process with respect to the identified criteria.
    4. At the conclusion of the school year, the teacher will be evaluated through the final evaluation instrument with respect to the identified criteria. This will occur prior to the administrator signing Form A certifying that the educator meets all requirements for participation in the Career Ladder on Stage II.
      NOTE: Unless the teacher's performance is being evaluated through the district's regular cycle, evaluation shall be conducted only on the specific criteria.
  3. Be serving on not less than a regular length full time contract.
  4. Have appropriate certification except upon good cause shown.
  5. Have developed a Career Development Plan (CDP) that contains responsibilities that the educator will assume in order to receive his/her Career Ladder supplemental pay. The educator will complete a minimum of 3 responsibilities. [The district shall designate at this point the hours required for Stage II. This requirement should coincide with the standard* and be commensurate and adjustable to the compensation offered for Stage II.] The educator shall relate each responsibility to an identified plan or other instructional improvement on Form C. This plan will be typed and be prepared on the forms supplied at the end of this plan.
  6. The Sunshine R-O District chooses to require that educators participating on Stage II of the Career Ladder also show evidence of 21 hours college credit above the bachelors degree that directly relate to their teaching area or prepare them for additional certification.

Stage III

  1. Successful completion of the Stage II CDP. To qualify for Stage III, a teacher shall have completed a CDP and three (3) years of service on Stage II of the Career Ladder. Two years of service on the previous stage may be waived by the local Board of Education based upon a total of ten (10) years teaching in the public schools.
  2. On the Performance Based Teacher Evaluation - the educator shall have performed at the expected level or above on all of the criteria and above the expected level on 15% of the criteria on the most recent final evaluation instrument of the PBTE. One of the criteria that is above the expected level shall be in the Instructional Process Area for teachers and librarians, the Guidance-Counseling Process Area for counselors and the process area most closely related to specific job performance as it relates to students for school psychological examiners, parents as teachers educators, school psychologists, special education diagnosticians and speech pathologists. In order to identify such performance, the following process may be employed:
    1. At the beginning of the year preceding movement to Stage III, the Career Ladder educator will identify, in collaboration with that educator's evaluator, those criteria on which the teacher feels she/he is performing and will continue to perform above the level of expectation.
    2. The process for documenting these criteria will clearly specify the behaviors to be evaluated, the manner in which they will be evaluated and the evaluation criteria to be employed.
    3. During the school year, the educator will be evaluated through the formative evaluation process with respect to the identified criteria.
    4. At the conclusion of the school year, the teacher will be evaluated through the final evaluation instrument with respect to the identified criteria. This will occur prior to the administrator signing Form A certifying that the educator meets all requirements for participation on Career Ladder Stage III.
      NOTE: Unless the teacher's performance is being evaluated through the district's regular cycle, evaluation shall be conducted only on the specific criteria.
  3. Be serving on not less than a regular length full-time contract.
  4. Have appropriate certification except upon good cause shown.
  5. Have developed a Career Development Plan (CDP) that contains responsibilities that the educator will assume in order to receive his/her Career Ladder supplemental pay. The educator will complete a minimum of four responsibilities. [The district shall designate at this point the number of hours required for Stage III. This requirement should coincide with the standard* and be commensurate and adjustable to the compensation offered for Stage III.] The educator shall relate each responsibility to an identified plan or other instructional improvement on Form C. This plan will be typed and be prepared on the forms supplied at the end of this plan.
  6. The Sunshine R-O District chooses to require that educators participating on Stage III of the Career Ladder also show evidence of a masters degree or 30 hours college credit above the bachelors degree that directly relate to their teaching area or prepare them for additional certification.

Acceptable responsibilities are non-compensated activities that are not a part of a participant's regular contract and involve extended day activities. Responsibilities shall not be church affiliated. Responsibilities must be directly and obviously related to the improvement of programs and services for students as outlined in the Sunshine R-0 School Improvement Plan, Curriculum Development Plan, Professional Development Plan, Missouri School Improvement Program or other instructional improvement.