This policy primer is designed to provide base-line information about new forms of teacher pay that are emerging around the country, to support the local conversations and negotiations that will lead to the development of innovative compensation systems. It identifies reasons why teacher compensation is high on local, state, and federal policy agendas, describes some of the new pay programs that have been implemented, and offers an initial analysis of what we are learning from these various and diverse pay experiments. (Contains 2 tables and 9 additional resources.)