A few dozen educators at five Dallas schools could lose their positions after having their campuses rated academically unacceptable for two consecutive years.

Across the country, there is growing momentum among local, state, and national leaders to establish performance-based pay systems that recognize teachers for their ability to increase student achievement in the classrooms. And one important reason for this momentum is that recognition pay for teachers has strong public support.

Sandy Kress served as a senior education adviser to President Bush and is a former president of the Dallas Independent School District. He has served on two statewide committees searching for improvements in the Texas public education system.

Every school day, Texas teachers willingly embrace the responsibility of shepherding our children toward bright futures. In return, it is our duty as parents, employers and taxpayers to empower these teachers with the best tools so our students are prepared to succeed. "Teacher effectiveness" is the cornerstone of a series of innovative education recommendations recently released by Texans for Excellence in the Classroom, which are now being considered by the Legislature. The Governor's Business Council developed the report "Excellence in the Classroom" working with the nation's leading education experts, researchers and teachers with years of classroom experience.

Tricky though it may be to push through a pay plan that rewards teachers for good performance, real education reform won't happen without it. A plan to pay teachers according to how well they do their jobs is finally getting some serious and overdue action by state and local political and educational leaders.

Measuring effectiveness isn't easy because external factors such as parental involvement and community affluence strongly influence academic achievement, but the progress of individual students can be tracked as they move from grade to grade. That can reveal patterns in teachers' effectiveness. Early experiments in Florida to reward teachers based on how they boost students' scores could guide the rest of the USA.

The state's TAKS test is like the veteran quarterback who has given the team years of adequate performance. But complaints have piled up, and the crowd now clamors for an all-star replacement.

The chalkboard on the right side of the entrance to Progreso schools Superintendent Fernando Castillo’s office tells a story of a district serious about its Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills scores.

At the onset, there's a mad rush to be the first in line to talk to the school recruiters. Within seconds, the candidates, looking more like bankers in their suits than elementary educators, anxiously await their turn.

Dell and Jobs spoke at a statewide education forum sponsored by the Texas Public Education Reform Foundation.

Jobs, CEO of Apple Inc., drew applause from many people in the audience with his sharp criticism of teacher unions.

Comparing schools to small companies and principals to CEOs, he asked rhetorically what kind of CEO can't hire the people he wants, get rid of workers who aren't performing or pay better workers more.