Gov. Bob McDonnell has announced that teachers in 25 schools across the commonwealth will participate in performance-pay pilot programs during the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 school years. The participating schools are located in 13, or 10 percent, of Virginia’s 132 school divisions. No local schools are participating.

The participating schools must implement the performance standards and model teacher-evaluation system approved by the Virginia Board of Education in April. The system bases 40 percent of a teacher’s evaluation on student academic growth.

The Virginia Teacher Evaluation Work Group developed Guidelines for Uniform Performance Standards and Evaluation Criteria for Teachers and the Virginia Standards for the Professional Practice of Teachers for use in this pilot program.

The work group consisted of teachers, principals, superintendents, Virginia Department of Education staff and representatives from the Virginia School Boards Association, Virginia Associati...