Mostly though, merit aid is academic in nature and if you have the grade, you get the aid.

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Some states and districts are looking to adopt a system like the one in Hillsborough County Public Schools in Florida, where the district created exams for every subject at every grade five years ago in an effort to award merit pay to teachers.

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Not that I'm necessarily equating the two in terms of literary merit, but I remember when I discovered "The Hardy Boys" in fifth or sixth grade: After reading the first book, I was so smitten I begged my parents to buy me the remaining fortysomething volumes for my birthday.

WSJ: The Historian's Stories