Our My Two Cents question for this month is: Should teachers and principals earn merit pay/performance-based bonuses? If so, based on what criteria? In addition to the responses we printed in the magazine, here is what some of your other colleagues had to say:

I think that teachers and principals that are demonstrating high student achievement levels using a variety of data-collection measures (not just test scores) should be compensated for their efforts. Providing all teachers and principals with the skills they need to be their very best and then rewarding those who achieve is a way to motivate and recognize excellence. If the system is just based on test scores, it will not work.
Mark Ziebarth, Principal, Isanti Intermediate School, Isanti, Minnesota

I believe that teachers and principals should be paid on a merit basis. The big question in making that happen is how to do it in an equitable manner. Our school is in the beginning stages of the TAP program. I believe that if it is not the best shot we have at an equitable pay-for-performance framework, it is likely among the best.
Kathleen Corley, Principal, Red Cedar Elementary School, Bluffton, South Carolina