The Errant Æsthete

Would six-figure salaries attract better teachers? A New York City charter school set to open in 2009 in Washington Heights thinks so and will test one of the most fundamental questions in education: Whether significantly higher pay for teachers is the key to improving schools. [via link]

The school, which will run from fifth to eighth grades, is promising to pay teachers $125,000, plus a potential bonus based on schoolwide performance. That is nearly twice as much as the average New York City public school teacher earns, roughly two and a half times the national average teacher salary and higher than the base salary of all but the most senior teachers in the most generous districts nationwide.