Matthew Miller thinks he's got the answer to teacher shortages in America's toughest schools - and maybe he does, since he's brought to the table both teacher union president Sandra Feldman and Fordham president Chester Finn. In the July 2003 Atlantic Monthly, Miller proposes a deal: the federal government would commit $30 billion per year to raise the salaries of teachers in the nation's toughest schools by 50 percent. In return, these teachers would agree to abandon lockstep pay scales and make it easier to fire incompetent teachers. Miller calls it "Title I for Teachers," and AFT head Feldman - among other union leaders - said she could sign on. To gauge the reaction of reformers, Miller approached the Gadfly's own Finn, who responded with another version that would two-track the compensation system: higher pay for teachers who are willing to give up some job security but not for those unwilling to take that risk. The remaining sticking point: how to measure teacher performance? By increases in student achievement? The judgment of principals and peers? Some sort of blended approach? There are, of course, myriad details to be worked out - and political will to be mustered - before any such plan is rendered plausible. But it's a start.
"A new deal for teachers," by Matthew Miller, Atlantic Monthly, July 2003 (not available online)