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TN Offering Teacher Bonuses To Recruit Talent

The Tennessee Department of Education has rolled out a new package of incentives to help bring the best teachers to the state's worst schools. The department is offering to pay $7,000 signing bonuses to every new top-rated teacher who agrees to teach for at least two years in the some of the worst-performing schools in the state. In addition, officials will provide money to school districts to pay retention bonuses to every top-rated teacher who decides to stay at a priority school for the 2013-2014 school year. Priority schools are the schools performing in the bottom 5 percent in the state in terms of academic achievement. They are located in Memphis, as well as Davidson, Hamilton, Hardeman and Knox counties.