Is there such a thing as "the dream team" of teachers?  A NY Times article describes the making of just that.  And it certainly helps that the dream team will be making the dream salary, too.  These highly qualified individuals will be bringing in $125,000 per year.  Sounds like a dream to me!  This experiemental charter school is hoping to determine whether great teachers are enough to make a great school and whether six-figure incomes motivate and compensate appropriately.  The school's founder and principal, an educator-innovator, has confidence that these teachers will indeed create a dream team. Reportedly, the  120 lucky students were chosen from a lottery of about 600 applicants.  Based on that information I would have to say that whatever conclusions are made about the quality of teacher, or schools, one must take into consideration the parents or guardians of those kids as a motivating, contributing factor.  In other words, sometimes the students are not the biggest obstacle, sometimes the tests or curriculum are not the biggest obstacles, sometimes it is the parents who, some with good intentions and some with selfish ambitions, pose the biggest obstacles to success in the classroom.  I recently worked one-on-one with a student in their home.  Every day the mother made excuses for why the child hadn't done, couldn't do or shouldn't have to do his work.  The student, who is very bright, prefers the easy life of watching TV and drawing, so is perfectly willing to oblige his mother.  He has yet to do  the work he needs to complete seventh grade and school finished a week ago.  Would this mom ever fill out an application to send her child to a school that might challenge him to work hard and hold him responsible when he doesn't?  I don't think so. So, I think that drawing conclusions about teacher success, pay scales, and charters schools may be a little off if you are not getting the full range of parents.  Sometimes they make the biggest impact on the classroom.