To impede or embrace

MCEA has so far chosen to be an impediment to the current sweep of education reforms. However, when you look at the money that has become available in DC, you have to wonder if the teachers in Montgomery County Public schools wouldn't be better off getting on the highway instead of building spead bumps on it. Read about the new money available to DC teachers in the Washington Post. A few incentives below. MCPS has none... I'd go for just one.

First, qualify by ranking in the top tier on the school system's new evaluation system. Working at a school where 60 percent or more of students qualify for free- and reduced-price meals earns $10,000 extra right off the bat. (Teachers at lower-poverty schools receive half the money.) Be a math teacher: a hard to staff subject garners $5,000. Teach in grades four through eight: students in those grades take the standardized exams in math and reading that are used to calculate growth data, which can earn up to another $10,000.

Teachers who receive high evaluations two years in a row will also be paid as though they had masters degrees, and will be bumped up to five years up the pay ladder depending on poverty levels at their school.

School systems across the country have adopted performance-based bonuses in the last few years, but Washington's bonuses are among the biggest. Teachers in Prince George's County can receive up to $10,000 in annual performance bonuses.