Denver teachers' merit-pay plan is receiving attention among 2008 Democratic presidential candidates, and for good reason.  The program is designed to reward teachers who document student progress, improve their teaching skills and agree to work in hard-to-serve schools.  Those who meet these criteria are eligible for a $1026 bonus.

Charged with the most important job in the country, teachers are finally being given an incentive to challenge themselves and our children to push the (mostly) mediocre boundaries of this nation's educational system.  This country's CEOs lead many of the most important companies in the world, and they are compensated on the basis of their performance.  So don't we owe it to our children and our prospects for continued economic growth to compensate our teachers on their performance?  After all, teachers are shaping our future human resource pipeline.  If they do not have the tools and the incentives to produce the best and brightest graduates in the world, our CEOs will soon be replaced by more competent ones from other countries.

Merit-pay represents systemic change in our present education system, potentially requiring a great deal of persistence, short-term sacrifice and goodwill; however, if we don't move ahead we will continue to nourish a system of disincentives that is broadening our children's achievement gap internationally.