Although this will come as a shock, offering incentives to teachers for increased student achievement - a concept referred to as "merit pay" - doesn't seem to produce the results the "reformers" said it would. In fact, according to a recently released study by the Harvard economist Roland Fryer, merit pay actually often hurt student performance rather than increasing it.
I know. You're surprised. Try to hold back your astonishment enough to make the jump and I'll explain.