Race to the Top

Edutopia has new poll asking “Should teacher unions support their state's Race to the Top efforts?” I do not know if I support the Race to the Top because I, along with most, do not understand what is in the proposal or what will be in it. However, I know my local union opposes it. It seems like most union members become very defensive when they hear ideas regarding evaluations and performance pay. I can understand the fear of losing your job and performance pay might seem unfair depending on the group of students you have. But we all know that some teachers are better than others. And we all know some underperforming teachers that just do not care enough to improve their methods. What can a school do about them? We can offer carrots or sticks. It is not clear if the Race to the Top will include rewards and/or consequences. Either way, I do not worry about such proposals because I think good teachers should be rewarded and ineffective teachers should be held accountable. I am not saying teachers should be fired for bad test scores in a single year, but hopefully underperforming teachers can be identified to be provided resources to improve their methods. What do you think? Do schools need carrots or sticks to encourage better teaching? Or do schools need something else?