In July 2007, the Austin Independent School District (AISD) began implementation of AISD REACH, a comprehensive and strategic compensation initiative. The initiative addressed three key areas: student growth, professional growth, and recruitment and retention of teachers and principals at highest needs schools. REACH combines an outcome-based pay for performance component based on student achievement measures with two input-based components--one for professional development and another for teaching in hard to staff schools. This paper presents an evaluation of teacher and principal experiences of the efficiency of the AISD REACH program and offers recommendations and conclusions. By deliberately seeking an independent evaluation, AISD has demonstrated a strong commitment to successfully developing and implementing a meaningful pay for performance program grounded in research. While it is clear that there is much support among teachers and principals in pilot schools for this effort, there are also numerous opportunities for the district and its strategic compensation staff to improve upon the initiative. Appended are: (1) Fall 2008 AISD Reach Teacher Survey; (2) Fall 2008 AISD Principal Interview Protocols; and (3) Fall 2008 AISD Teacher Interview. (Contains 4 figures, 13 tables and 15 footnotes.)