To encourage more top-caliber students to choose teaching, teachers should be paid a lot more, with starting salaries more in the range of $60,000 and potential earnings of as much as $150,000.

Teachers say their schools of education did not adequately prepare them for the classroom. They would have welcomed more mentoring and feedback in their early years.

Research shows that children do better in school and are less likely to drop out when fathers are involved. Engaged parents can strengthen communities, mentor and tutor students, and demonstrate through their actions how much they value their children's education.

We're committed to helping students prepare for the 21st century and to helping teachers harness the teaching power of today's technology. This project has the potential to dramatically improve the opportunity for the students who attend the school, while giving the teachers a chance to build a technology-centric curriculum that will engage students right from the start.

Teachers support evaluations based on multiple measures: student growth, classroom observation and feedback from peers and parents.

What nobler employment, or more valuable to the state, than that of the man who instructs the rising generation?