"We want middle school kids to increase their level of achievement in science and math and for their teachers to increase their level of performance in teaching those subjects."

VOA: standard.2010.05.10

For all the difficulty of doing a rigorous evaluation in order to improve teaching performance across the board, I suspect it is a whole lot easier to identify the worst teachers in the school.

FORBES: Getting Rid of Bad Teachers

The foundation and others have estimated that it could cost between 1.5% and 2% of the overall budget for teacher compensation and benefits to implement a feedback and evaluation system based on multiple measures of teaching performance.

CNN: Bill Gates: Invest in better teaching

"Strategies to improve test and examination performance, coupled with teaching that focuses heavily on preparation for the qualifications, does not equip pupils for their futures, " says the booklet destined for secondary schools.

BBC: Maths teachers 'taught to teach'