Bill Gates Seeks Formula for Better Teachers

Stephanie Banchero:

Bill Gates shook up the battle against AIDS in Africa by applying results-oriented business metrics to the effort. Now, he is trying to do the same in the tricky world of evaluating and compensating teachers.

The Microsoft Corp. co-founder has moved on from a $2 billion bet on high school reform--much of it spent on breaking up big, failing high schools and replacing them with smaller ones.

Now, he is venturing that improving teacher effectiveness is the key to fixing broken schools. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded $290 million to school districts in Memphis, Tenn.; Hillsborough, Fla.; and Pittsburgh, and a charter consortium in California to build new personnel systems Mr. Gates hopes will be models for the country.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at March 23, 2011 1:25 AM
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