DENVER (AP) -- Denver teachers must decide whether to allow voters to accept a plan that would base their pay raises on student performance rather than longevity, a method which has failed elsewhere.

``If it does pass, it means taking the way teachers are paid to the 21st century, aligning pay to student achievement, instructional goals and priorities in our school district,'' said Becky Wissink, president of the Denver Classroom Teachers Association and a supporter of the plan.

The association wrapped up a two-week voting period on Thursday and planned to announce the results Friday. If the teachers accept the plan, voters would still have to agree to a tax increase to fund the additional $25 million annual cost.

The tax vote would take place in November 2005.

William J. Slotnik, whose Boston-based Community Training and Assistance Center helped oversee a two-year test of the plan in 15 Denver schools, said the program's success or failure could have national implications.

``Based on the pilot, the results would suggest this would be very promising not only for Denver, but also for other districts,'' Slotnik said. ``The key would be to implement it effectively.''

In the pilot program, teachers and principals set two objectives for improved student performance and then evaluated the results at the end of the year. Teachers got a $750 bonus for each objective they met.

Plans similar to Denver's have failed elsewhere, said Dan Goldhaber, research associate professor at Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington in Seattle.

One in Fairfax, Va., ran out of money because ``everybody was rated as excellent,'' he said.

``I would say we really don't know enough about pay-for-performance plans to know if they can work in practice,'' Goldhaber said.

The Denver proposal, known as ProComp, would include pay incentives for student growth, measured by improvements on state tests and by objectives agreed on by individual teachers and principals.

Other factors in teacher pay would be professional development, including graduate degrees and teacher evaluations. Incentives would be offered for hard-to-fill schools or subjects.

Ann Franco, who teaches first grade at Del Pueblo Elementary, said she voted for the proposal because it was the only way for teachers to get a raise in a time of tight budgets, and because she supports the approach.

``I'm able to control my future because I can go back and take classes, I can work in a hard-to-staff school, and I can set student growth objectives to fit my own classroom,'' Franco said.

Dale Bailey, a chemistry and earth science teacher at George Washington High School, said he dislikes the plan but voted for it out of fear teachers would be criticized if it fails.

He said the proposal drives a bigger wedge between teachers and administrators and does not offer any help to struggling educators.

``Is it going to make better teachers? No, I don't think so,'' Bailey said. ``I don't think that asking people to sit quietly and do as you're told ever makes for good education.''