The results on the first year of the state-funded performance-pay plan for teachers are in, and they are decidedly mixed.

An independent study of the $100 million Texas Educator Excellence Grants Program showed that teachers in the 1,148 participating schools had a favorable response to the program. They generally support performance incentives, though teacher associations traditionally push for raises for all teachers, not performance incentives for a small group of top-performers.

Researchers found some flaws in the program. The small size of teacher bonuses coupled with high turnover in the schools eligible to participate from one year to the next make it hard to predict whether the program will have long-term success. To participate in the program, schools had to serve a high percentage of economically disadvantaged students and earn high accountability ratings, either “exemplary” or “recognized” on the state’s Academic Excellence Indicator System.

Developers of local plans typically opted to spread the awards to as many teachers as possible, resulting in an average maximum bonus of $2,263. The awards were considerably smaller on average than the $3,000 to $10,000 recommended by the Texas Legislature.

The program was dealt a more serious blow when 60 percent of the schools that qualified in the first year failed to meet performance or demographic targets for the second year. Performance incentives aren’t as likely to produce results if teachers are eligible one year but not the next.

State education officials believe the program is living up to the Legislature’s intent. The ability to retain teachers was one of the program’s goals, and one official noted that at least 70 percent of teachers in eligible schools said they have a strong desire to participate in the program. Officials will tinker with the program to improve results and are likely to press districts to provide larger bonuses to a smaller group of top-performing teachers.

Texas’ teacher associations contend that there’s little to be gained by continuing the program. They note that 85 percent of teachers in the program said that the awards did not change their approach to classroom work. The associations question the value in spending state funds to reward a relatively small group of teachers who are already doing their jobs well.

The Texas Education Agency contracted with the National Center on Performance Incentives to conduct the study. Researchers were from Vanderbilt University, the University of Missouri, and the RAND Corp, a nonprofit think tank.