Thought I would pass on a couple links I found this weekend. I will let the first one speak for itself. As to the second one I will provide my $.02.

Quick Summary: "Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a Republican, wants to create a new educational job titled, "super teacher" for educators interested in making $100,000 in salary and bonuses -- but there's a catch. Teachers would have to give up certain union protections like tenure and job security."

This is an interesting idea. People will complain that the Republicans are just coming up with creative ways to beat down organized labor and they would probably be correct. However, I would agree that it is time to start exploring new educational possibilities. The strategy of under-paying the people that teach and shape our developing citizens doesn't seem overly effective. I propose a mix of the two approaches. I think they should introduce the Super Teacher idea, but without the stripping of union protections (getting rid of tenure might still be a good idea). Pay these teachers at least $100,000 per year and put them in a studio. They present their especially good lecture each day and it is broadcast to multiple classrooms. Each of these classrooms has a projector screen displaying the lecture and a lower-payed teacher wandering the classroom providing hands-on help to the students. I don't really know how this would work out but I think it is worth a try. It would be very easy for administrators to monitor these broadcasts to ensure that only the best teachers are awarded Super Teacher status. Awarding tenure would have to allow for demotion to regular teacher status in the event that teaching quality declined or a better teacher became available.