Governors and other state leaders have shown an increasing interest in creating new models of teacher compensation that would reward educators based on their contributions to student learning. To support this interest, the National Governors Association (NGA) hosted a policy academy focusing on that issue. The policy academy provided teams with assistance and advice from NGA Center staff, access to other experts and an opportunity to network with other states confronting similar issues and challenges. During the academy, state leadership teams recognized some common challenges, allowing them to learn from each other, share best practices and commit to some common principles that could guide their efforts. This paper looks at those discussions. (Contains 28 endnotes.)