The Story Behind Grosse Pointe's Professional Growth Program
Abstract
The Story Behind Grosse Pointe's Professional Growth Program SAGE Publications, Inc.1957DOI: 10.1177/002248715700800213 James W. Bushong Grosse Pointe, Michigan THE earned increment principle has brought Grosse Pointe Schools excellent community relations, outstanding professional improvement, and a superior salary schedule. This principle triggered the present professional growth program which began five years ago when a representative committee of Grosse Pointe teachers and administrators developed a program for professional improvement. It was a bold, confident plan which asked point-blank whether professional people would go for the principle of the earned increment and forego the comforting assurance of "another year, another raise." The committee took the idea to the entire staff: The pitch-although school salaries are good now, prestige is high and the staff professional, the proposed program will improve all of these. Development of Professional Growth Program The professional growth program was discussed, modified, and finally adopted by secret ballot for a two-year trial run. The count was 66 per cent for, and 34 per cent against. After the two-year period a second system-wide secret ballot resulted in a vote of 90 per cent for its continuation. The Grosse Pointe School System serves an upper middle class, residential community, including the