Teachers need to be paid more so that teaching is competitive with other professions and pay is consistent with the new requirements for teachers. But compensation must be based on performance, providing added benefit to those who improve their knowledge and skills and increase their impact on student learning. Teachers must have access to a range of job-related roles for growth within the profession, such as serving as mentors for new teachers, peer assessors, or adjunct university faculty. And, we must overhaul teacher evaluation systems so that they are credible, fair, and based on standards of good teaching and evidence of student learning. Create a new school environment that provides teachers with the freedom and flexibility to achieve results.
Teachers deserve a professional environment that respects their expertise.
In order to create an environment that encourages teachers to move where they are needed most, we need portable teaching licenses and a voluntary national retirement plan. We understand that this vision of the teaching profession will require substantial new investments as well as tough decisions about existing school resources. In communities all across this country, people have made the investments necessary to implement each of the ideas we propose. We will work with district and school leaders to review and help reprioritize budgets and with state leaders to find new funding sources for these changes. We make these recommendations in recognition of the enormous effect technology will have on education over the next ten years.