Winning Teachers Earn $125,000 For Services

This September, eight teachers will learn the value of education as they start their new jobs at an innovative charter school and earn $125,000, nearly double the salary of New York City public school teachers and two and a half times more than national teacher averages, the New York Times reports.

This September, the school, called the Equity Project will open with 120 fifth-graders chosen in a lottery that gave preference to local children and to low academic performers. The Equity Project was created to test this theory: that excellent teachers — more than revolutionary technology, small class sizes or good principals — determine how successful a school will be.

Zeke M. Vanderhoek, a Yale graduate who founded the innovative charter school, traveled the country "American Idol"-style to find the best of the best in education: an accomplished violist, an explorer and a physical education teacher who trained Kobe Bryant are three among the elite eight.

The eight winning candidates share common traits such as contagious enthusiasm, and the abilities to redirect potential troublemakers and engage students to a point that they forget they're in class, Vanderhoek said.

In addition to the extraordinary salaries, teachers will also be eligible for bonuses of up to $25,000 in the second year. But they also have to earn their keep by handling duties that other staff members would typically do. There will be no assistant principal, deans, teacher coaches or regular substitute teachers. These teachers will also work more days and longer hours. Their classes will have 30 students, about six more than a typical fifth-grade class in New York City.

For the complete story, visit nytimes.com.