School-based performance award program for public schools in Taiwan's remote areas

Students in Taiwan's remote areas have long been recognized for their poor performance in student achievement. To overcome this problem, government subsidies many programs including paying more to teachers who serve in these areas. However, student achievement in these areas has not seen much improvement. This research is to design a school-based performance award (SBPA) program for public schools in remote areas in the hope that this incentive will help to raise student achievement. After interviewing of one focus group and several individual teachers and principals in remote areas, we have developed this SBPA with the following features. First, it is voluntary to join the SBPA and the award applies to anyone who joins the program. Second, both individual teachers and schools are eligible for the performance award. Third, student achievement in five core academic subjects and four nonacademic factors are served as performance measures in the SBPA. Fourth, balanced scorecard is adopted as the bonus payout structure. Certain processes should be thought through for successful implementation of the SBPA.