A year-long study by the Governor's Commission on Teaching Success released last week recommends dozens of ways Ohio schools can better train and compensate teachers.

It urges Ohio to define expectations of what all teachers should know and be able to do. The report is a good start. But tucked among the recommendations is the gentle suggestion - too gentle in our opinion - that local school boards consider student performance results in evaluating and paying teachers. This is common sense to the public, but it's a revolutionary idea to powerful teachers' unions.

It gets scant mention in this big Ohio report, which is the Taft administration's blueprint for education reforms. But the notion is not going away. Public pressure on schools to be accountable for student scores and academic improvement is growing. Reams of proposed teaching reforms, mostly from educators and their unions during the past decade, stop short of grading teachers on students' academic performance. Cincinnati Public Schools touted a pay-for-performance proposal for teachers for several years. But when it came time to link it to real consequences and compensation, the teachers voted it down. When a new superintendent took over a few months ago, the plan was tabled for another year.

This idea is catching on elsewhere. Several states are testing different ways to reward teachers. A Denver experiment sets specific student achievement goals and offers teachers bonuses for meeting them. Kentucky officials are mulling 32 different proposals for teacher-pay pilot programs next year.

It's past time to improve how we train and reward teachers for results. If closing achievement gaps means paying more to those who teach the most difficult students in the most difficult schools, let's do it. Let's also consider giving funding priority to districts willing to reward teachers for measurable classroom results.

Lawmakers should take heed of this idea when writing teaching reform laws this year. Ditto for local school boards negotiating contracts with teachers' unions. You'll find the commission's full report at www.teaching-success.org.