Mayor Emanuel and Chicago Public Schools (CPS) CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett Monday recognized 82 principals from across the district as the first recipients of principal performance pay, part of the Chicago Leadership Collaborative initiative the Mayor announced last fall that works to provide support and training for principals as well as reward them for building school environments that drive student success.

In November, Mayor Emanuel and CPS announced the formation of the Chicago Leadership Collaborative to help provide professional development, training, differentiated coaching and support for every principal in the district, working in tandem with the creation of Networks led by “Chiefs” of schools, which allow more personalized and targeted professional support and mentoring for principals.

The performance awards are supported by donations from Chicago’s philanthropic community, with a total of $5 million designed to support awards over the course of 5 years. Principals were selected to receive achievement awards based on metrics developed over months of discussions with CPS principals.

Out of the 82 principals recognized this year, 72 were elementary school principals and ten were high school principals. Achievement factors included student college readiness and graduation rate, two critical pieces in providing students a better opportunity for success, as well as decreasing the achievement gap among students and growth in student test scores.

There are three levels of achievement awards: demonstrated student growth in two of the four factors merited an award of $5,000; demonstrated student growth in three of the four factors merited an award of $10,000; and demonstrated student growth across the board, in all four factors, merited an award of $20,000.