In their latest paychecks, thousands of Miami-Dade teachers got an extra bump based on their students’ or schools’ FCAT scores. Some 120 teachers are poised to receive even bigger bumps — $4,000 to $25,000 — for their students’ gains.

The bonuses mark Miami-Dade’s foray into performance pay, a controversial policy that is part of the Obama Administration’s education reform agenda.

As the first district in Florida to implement such a plan, Miami-Dade has a head start on what will become a state requirement in 2014.

As the nation’s fourth-largest school district, it is also trying to succeed where others have failed. Places like New York and Texas have scrapped or deeply slashed their merit-pay systems because of a lack of money or results — or both.

Miami-Dade County Public Schools hopes to build its own success over time by taking it slowly, renegotiating the system each year with the teachers union, which helped create the initial plan.

The transition begins with the bonuses, financed with federal dollars, tied to last school year’s performance. But the new state law requires school districts to eventually tie salaries to teacher effectiveness.

Miami-Dade Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said the district set a pace for reform that both respects teachers and leverages the funding available.

“Even though it’s not a perfect system, it is the best one in the nation,” he said. “It was done — rather than by imposition — through negotiation.”

Historically, teachers’ salaries have been determined by two factors: years of experience and credentials like advanced degrees.

A national movement, spurred by competition for federal grants like President Barack Obama’s $4.3 billion Race to the Top, is aiming to change that. Politicians in cash-starved states all over the country have promised to start merit pay plans. That’s despite the fact that most of the research on performance pay has found no significant impact on student performance.

Florida, by being the first state to adopt a salary structure based only on teacher performance, hopes to change that.

Race to the Top dollars — $14 million for this first year — will fund Miami-Dade’s plan through 2014. But when the grant runs out, that’s when the state mandate starts. In 2014, all Florida school districts must revamp how they pay teachers under SB 736 that is being challenged in court by the state’s teachers union.

The law requires that teachers receive a grade based in part on student scores. A statistical equation, called a “value-added model,” will weigh student test scores and other factors to evaluate a teacher. That grade, combined with principal observations, will determine if they qualify for more pay.

For Miami-Dade teachers who do not teach FCAT subjects — such as P.E., chemistry or drama — their entire school’s FCAT reading scores will be factored into their reviews for the 2011-12 school year. Eventually, under state law, there will be a test for every subject that will be used to evaluate students and teachers.

In the first wave of bonuses, about 85 percent of the Miami-Dade district’s 20,000-plus teachers qualify for extra money in four categories, depending on how their school, department or students scored on the FCAT. Most bonuses range from about $500 to just more than $1,500. Some teachers will not see any extra money.