You could lure new talent with competitive pay and support. Give teachers the power to evaluate each other's work. Reward those who perform, and fire those who don't.
It could spark a seismic change in the nation's schools, or prompt a backlash that alters nothing.
With a little luck, the Hillsborough County Public Schools will soon embark on a seven year, $202 million journey to find out. The district would join a national effort to improve teacher effectiveness, the one factor experts say makes the biggest difference in a student's success or failure.
Officials worry about cost overruns, dissension from teachers and their union, and other glitches which have doomed similar efforts across the nation. But success would create a generation of great teachers, and bolster the district's reputation as a laboratory for educational reform./em>
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