FRANKLIN—Franklin High School has been selected for a federally funded, pilot teacher-pay-for-performance program.

The program will use $100,772 from school improvement grants as part of the 2009 stimulus funding to reward teachers who receive an exemplary rating from new state standards for teacher evaluations.

Twelve FHS teachers in the areas of English, mathematics and science have volunteered for the program, which will pay up to $3,000 per teacher for teachers who receive strong evaluations, said Charles Pyle, director of communications for the Virginia State Department of Education.

Bonuses will not be paid until the fall of 2013 and will be based on evaluations for the 2012-2013 school year.

While evaluations will be done by local school systems, the evaluation model designed by the state is “strong enough to support performance pay programs.”

The school must implement a comprehensive teacher-evaluation system aligned with performance standards and model evaluation systems approved by the state board of education. At least 40 percent of teacher evaluations must be based on student academic growth, including, when available and appropriate, student-growth data provided by the state Department of Education.

“It’s a way to evaluate teachers, but it’s also a way to help identify the needs of teachers to help make them better,” Pyle said.

Training for the program will begin at the end of July for administrators and training for the pilot program will continue through the end of the 2011-2012 school year. A total of 10 staff members will attend a conference in July to learn more about the program, according to an application submitted by Franklin City Public Schools.

The College of William and Mary will implement the program.