[timjahn]

I agree that it's a good reason to increase pay and possibly remove job security. And yes, once a teacher is tenured, barring any obvious crazy behavior, they are basically guaranteed their job regardless (at least in Chicagoland).

There are pros and cons to that - my wife and I discuss that subject often. I don't like the idea of tenured teachers not taking that responsibility seriously and just slacking off. My wife argues that it helps the good teachers make real change (since they can't before being tenured for fear of being fired).

No Child Left Behind is a big problem if you talk to any teacher. In my wife's district, they will soon be implementing some incentive based teaching practices, where portions of a teachers pay will be tied directly to student performances. And since all high school teaching is geared toward good ACT scores, it will all basically come down to ACT scores (which it does a lot already).