Merit pay, teachers and choice

Atlantic Blog has a nice summary of the importance of merit pay in tandem with school choice.

These lessons are, I think, illustrated in the competitive school market for non-nationals in the Sharjah-Dubai metropolis. And they suggest ways to strengthen government schools for nationals in urban areas -- by subjecting them to competition for students (for example, by giving nationals vouchers to use for education at any school).

The weakest schools, though, tend to be in less develop areas where the viability of a competition is unlikely.