School Funding Series | Making the Case for Teacher Compensation as an Imperative Policy Issue by Nikki Cohron
This is the first in our two-part series on school funding. In “Making the Case for Teacher Compensation as an Imperative Policy Issue,” Nikki Cohron discusses the lack of teacher voice in policy, teacher compensation disparities and the relationship between salary, recruitment, and retention. In the second article, Frank Ayata will zoom in on the financial policies of charter schools in Pennsylvania and how a legal challenge to the funding calculation has destabilized district budgets across the state. Together, these two installments tackle salient budget issues in American school funding and consider a path forward for each.
Three years into my teaching career, I left the classroom, and I am not alone. In 2018, teachers across the country fled their positions at record rates (Hackman & Morath, 2018). Research shows that attrition is particularly problematic for new teachers (Ingersoll, Merrill, Stuckey & Collins, 2018; Gray & Taie, 2015). To further complicate things, teachers are not only running from classrooms in droves; they are actively choosing never to enter the field of teaching. The growing student population coupled with issues in teacher recruitment and retention have resulted in an increasingly detrimental gap in the demand over the supply of teachers (Sutcher, Darling-Hammond & Carver-Thomas, 2016). While a previous AJE Forum series explores teacher recruitment through the lens of declining enrollments in teacher education programs, this piece makes the case for increased teacher compensation and the vital role of teacher voice in policy development as a means to both attract teachers to the classroom and, above all, keep them there.
Inequities in Teacher Compensation and Their Relationship with Recruitment and Retention
Inadequate compensation is not a new issue for teachers, and in the past decade, the problem has been exacerbated rather than alleviated (Allegretto & Mishel, 2018). Policymakers and school district leaders must acknowledge teacher demands for increased compensation as legitimate, particularly in light of growing deficiencies in state education budgets, the teacher pay penalty, and the relationship between gender and teacher compensation (NCES, 2016).
According to a 2018 report by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), twenty-five states have significantly lower spending on K-12 education than before the Great Recession hit in 2008. President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act sent a surge of money to protect state and local education budgets and support teacher salaries during the Great Recession. Yet, when that aid came to an end in 2011, many states failed to pick up the slack and, too often, also reduced their overall tax effort. Shrinking education budgets make it more essential now that ever to emphasize the dismal state of teacher compensation in the United States.
The teacher pay penalty is defined as “the percent to which public school teachers are paid less than comparable workers” (Allegretto & Mishel, 2018, p. 1). From 1996 to 2017, the average weekly wages of public school teachers decreased by $27, when adjusted for inflation. This figure is dramatic when compared to the $137 increase in weekly wages for the average college graduate during the same period. The average teacher wage penalty across the United States is -23.8%. In dollar-for-dollars terms, this means that teachers, on average, earn a mere 76.2 cents on the dollar compared to similarly educated peers (Allegretto & Mishel, 2018).
A flawed argument against increases in teacher pay is rooted in the suggestion that teachers enjoy more attractive job benefits than other professionals. From having summers “off” to generous insurance and retirement packages, teacher benefits are perceived to be good, or at least comparable, to other professions. When benefits are considered, an overall compensation penalty for teachers still exists, but it is far less pronounced than the pay penalty based purely on weekly wages (Allegretto & Mishel, 2018). The tendency for overall compensation to soften the perceived severity of inequities in teacher pay is evidence of a “benefit bias” that works against public school teachers. Beyond compensation, the growing wage penalty is “critical to keep in mind, given the nature of wages and benefits—only wages can be spent or saved!” (2018, p. 10).
Statistics can also be misleading in regard to gender pay equality in teaching. Overall, the teaching profession has a low rate of gender inequality, compared to other occupations, due to the common practice of fixed salary schedules for all employees (Hansen & Quintero, 2017). However, this metric fails to paint a complete picture of the complexities of gender in teaching. While the number of males working in public schools has increased considerably since the 1980s, the number of females has increased at twice that rate (Ingersoll, Merrill, Stuckey & Collins, 2018). The increasingly female teaching force perpetuates inequalities on multiple fronts, as fixed salary schedules simultaneously guarantee more narrow gender pay gaps than other professions, deter males from entering the field, and mask the underlying issues of gender discrimination at play.
Further, the gendered narrative of teaching as a philanthropic career is pervasive, and although not wholly untrue or ill-intentioned, the idea that teachers are not “in it for the money” can be wielded as a weapon to keep teacher working conditions and compensation low. This, coupled with the reality that males occupy an inordinate proportion of seats at policymaking tables, illustrates why the policy window for increased teacher compensation has been difficult to pry open, but the relationship between salary, recruitment, and retention demonstrates that it must (Podolsky, Kini Bishop & Darling-Hammond, 2016).
Reports from Learning Policy Institute and Economic Policy Institute underscore crafting competitive compensation packages for teachers as a policy imperative (Sutcher, Darling-Hammond & Carver-Thomas 2016; Carver-Thomas & Darling-Hammond, 2017; Espinoza, Saunders, Kini & Darling-Hammond, 2018; Allegretto & Mishel, 2016 and 2018; Garcia & Weiss, 2019). Higher salaries attract more people into the profession and keep beginning and veteran teachers in the classroom, and low salaries increase the likelihood of teachers of all experiences levels to leave he classroom (Garcia & Weiss, 2019; Gray & Taie, 2015; Loeb, Darling-Hammond & Luczak, 2005; Manski, 1987). Additionally, salary may incentivize teachers who fled the profession to return to the classroom, as 67% of teachers who left the classroom said an increase in salary would substantially influence their decision to return (Podolski et al., 2016).
By 2025, there is a projected 200,000 teacher gap in the estimated demand over the supply of teachers (Sutcher, Darling-Hammond & Carver-Thomas, 2016). Not only is a shortage of quality, experienced teachers bad for students, it also perpetuates funding issues in schools by requiring school systems to allocate substantial funds for teacher recruitment. The more attractive the profession is made by increased compensation packages, the more these valuable funds can be allocated to more directly benefit students by funding school programs, support staff, or other valuable resources (Carver-Thomas & Darling-Hammond, 2017).
Together, those advantaged in education policy must not only elevate teacher voices but also open seats for teachers at decision-making tables
A Path Forward for Teacher Compensation Policy
For me, the decision to leave teaching was rooted in a realization that, from the vantage point of the classroom, the realms of policy and research felt worlds away. The impossibility of addressing the needs of my students with only pedagogy coupled with an unclear means of effective advocating for meaningful change loomed over me. Further, I felt demoralized by the reality that I worked longer hours, exhausted more mental energy, and enjoyed far less professional respect than my similarly educated friends, most of whom brought home a lot more money than me. Among all teachers who quit their jobs, 55 percent rated myriad dissatisfaction factors as being “very important” in their decision to leave teaching, including but not limited to dissatisfaction with accountability measures, instructional support, compensation metrics, allocation of time, discipline issues, class size, working conditions, and lack of autonomy and voice in policies and practices (Carver-Thomas & Darling-Hammond, 2017). Among these measures, compensation is arguably the teacher issue we hear about the most, and perhaps, it is also the most tangible, straight-forward issue to remedy.
In addressing compensation increases, policymakers must resist the temptation to increase teacher compensation with increases in benefits alone. While not insignificant, the benefits bias should not cloud judgment when analyzing the worthiness of pay increases. Weekly take-home pay should be thoroughly considered, as well. Wage increases provide teachers with the immediate and real ability to spend and save more, and evidence from research highlighted in this piece widely supports the notion that teacher pay is indeed an essential factor in teacher recruitment and retention. Additionally, it is essential that policymakers do more than simply increase wages.
Secondly, but no less crucially, they must solicit and leverage teacher voice in this policy process. Over the past two years, a wave of teacher strikes shaped the conversation about the state of teaching in the United States. Beginning in West Virginia, these Red for Ed strikes quickly swept across the nation to states including Colorado, North Carolina, Arizona, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Arkansas, California, and Illinois. At the heart of this movement are teacher voices calling for better working conditions, more classroom resources, smaller class sizes, general improvements in education funding, and increased compensation. The substantial teacher strikes and the potency of the Red for Ed movement since early 2018 demonstrate this dissatisfaction and the potential of teacher activism to catalyze change, but teacher voice should not be limited to the vacuum of a strike. (Blanc, 2019; Karp & Sanchez, 2018). Together, those advantaged in education policy must not only elevate teacher voices but also open seats for teachers at decision-making tables. Unquestionably, this includes conversations about teacher pay, as research shows the presence of teacher voice in designing compensation structures that challenge the status quo are imperative to their success (NEA, n.d.; Goldhaber et al., 2016).
Nikki Cohron is a Ph.D. student in the Educational Theory and Policy Program at Penn State. She holds master’s degree in Educational Leadership, Organizations, and Policy from Samford University and a bachelor’s degree in Collaborative Education from Birmingham-Southern College. Her background includes teaching at the elementary and undergraduate levels, as well as promoting college faculty development as an instructional technologist. Nikki’s current research focus is on the intersections between research, policy, and the K-12 classroom. Specifically, she is interested in understanding how teachers perceive their role in educational change.
References
Allegretto, S., & Mishel, L. (2018). The teacher pay penalty has hit a new high. Washington, D.C.: Economic Policy Institute. Retrieved from https://www.epi.org/publication/teacher-pay-gap-2018/
Allegretto, S., & Mishel, L. (2016). The teacher pay gap is wider than ever. Washington, D.C.: Economic Policy Institute. Retrieved from https://www.epi.org/publication/the-teacher-pay-gap-is-wider-than-ever-teachers-pay-continues-to-fall-further-behind-pay-of-comparable-workers/
American Federation of Teachers [AFT]. (2017). Merit pay and high stakes testing. Retrieved from https://www.epi.org/publication/teacher-pay-gap-2018/
Blanc, E. (2019). Red state revolt: The teachers’ strikes wave and working-class politics. Brooklyn, New York: Verso.
Carver-Thomas, D. & Darling-Hammond, L. (2017). Teacher turnover: Why it matters and what we can do about it. Palo Alto, CA: Learning Policy Institute. Retrieved April 18, 2019, from https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/teacher-turnover.
Espinoza, D., Saunders, R., Kini, T., & Darling-Hammond, L. (2018). Taking the long view: State efforts to solve teacher shortages by strengthening the profession. Palo Alto, CA: Learning Policy Institute. Retrieved from https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/long-view-report
Garcia, E., & Weiss, E. (2019). The teacher shortage is real, large and growing, and worse than we thought. Washington, D.C.: Economic Policy Institute. April 18, 2019, from https://www.epi.org/publication/the-teacher-shortage-is-real-large-and-growing-and-worse-than-we-thought-the-first-report-in-the-perfect-storm-in-the-teacher-labor-market-series/
Goldhaber, D., Bignell, W., Farley, A., Walch, J., & Cowan, J. (2016). Who chooses incentivized pay structures? exploring the link between performance and preferences for compensation reform in the teacher labor market. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 38(2), 245-271. doi:10.3102/0162373715615233
Gray, L., and Taie, S. (2015). Public School Teacher Attrition and Mobility in the First Five Years: Results from the First Through Fifth Waves of the 2007–08 Beginning Teacher Longitudinal Study (NCES 2015-337). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved [date] from http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch.
Hackman, M., & Morath, E. (2018, December 28). Teachers quit jobs at highest rate on record. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from https://www.wsj.com/articles/teachers-quit-jobs-at-highest-rate-on-record-11545993052?ns=prod/accounts-wsj
Hansen, M., & Quintero, D. (2017). “Scrutinizing equal pay for equal work among teachers.” The Brookings Institution. Washington, D.C. Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/research/scrutinizing-equal-pay-for-equal-work-among-teachers/
Ingersoll, R., Merrill, E., Stuckey, D., & Collins, G. (2018). Seven Trends: The Transformation of the Teaching Force, updated October 2018. Research Report (#RR 2018-2). Consortium for Policy Research in Education, University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved, from https://repository.upenn.edu/cpre_researchreports/108/
Podolsky, A., Kini, T., Bishop, J., & Darling-Hammond, L. (2016). Solving the Teacher Shortage: How to Attract and Retain Excellent Educators (research brief). Palo Alto, CA: Learning Policy Institute. Retrieved from https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/solving-teacher-shortage-brief
Sutcher, L., Darling-Hammond, L., & Carver-Thomas, D. (2016). A coming crisis in teaching? Teacher supply, demand, and shortages in the U.S. Palo Alto, CA: Learning Policy Institute. Retrieved from https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/coming-crisis-teaching.
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This article does an excellent job of discussing the need for higher teacher compensation to recruit and retain teachers. Higher teacher pay seems like a fairly simple solution to the declining teacher recruitment and retainment we see across America. I agree, higher teacher pay is a “no brainer” to me. Still, to be successful in recruiting and retaining teachers, those in the policy world need to be nuanced in how they approach higher teacher compensation, and they need to implement further policies that support teachers. Cohron provides a nuanced look at the issue in this article, and I believe she can do so effectively because of her experience as a teacher. The statistics clearly show that teachers are underpaid, but rattling off statistics is unlikely to be enough to convince people in power. Policymakers need to hear from people like Cohron, who can share personal stories of low pay pushing them out of the teaching profession. Cohron emphasizes this in the article by discussing the need for teacher voice in policy discussions. I like that she mentioned the Red for Ed strikes, an immense display of teacher voice and power, while pointing out that effective policy would welcome teacher voice before teachers felt like striking was the only way policymakers would listen. Cohron also realizes that compensation, while incredibly important, is not the only reason teachers are leaving the field. In my organization, I hear from both veteran teachers and first-year teachers that the low pay makes the job extremely difficult, but the long hours, lack of professional autonomy, and disrespect is what leaves them demoralized. Again, Cohron’s experience as a teacher made her aware of these less intangible factors and allowed her to effectively make a case for raising teacher pay while also realizing higher compensation is not a cure-all policy solution to teacher shortages.
This article was helpful in educating one on the obstacles faced by teachers and those who advocate for their rights. Prior to reading this article I did not know that a common shut down when advocating for teacher rights is their benefits, and how teacher benefits such as having holidays, and summers “off”, generous insurance and retirement plans is seen as a sort of trade off for the low salaries. I found it mind boggling that policy makers do not ask for input from those they are making the decisions for. Even so, they know that a big reason for the shortage of teachers and the lack of retention is because of teacher pay, yet they dont do anything about it. There are so many reasons for shortage of teachers but the salary is such a blatant and direct issue that it should have been addressed as soon as it was uncovered. Supporting the rights and demands of the teachers is going to have to be a collaborative effort which is why the author emphasizes that those advantaged in education policy must not only raise teacher voices but also open seats for teachers at decision-making tables. It takes passion and drive to formulate strikes that were mentioned in this article, anyone one of those organizers would most definitely step up to the plate and voice their concerns and ideas to the policymakers however they’re not given said opportunities.
The rate of teachers getting away from positions become higher and higher, which shows that the salary and working environment is not suitable for people. There are more students go into schools and the recruitment of teachers become serious. I think salary is a method that improve the motivation of teachers to go into classroom and work hard. And compare to other people at the same age, teachers devote more efforts but get less. And local government can not provide enough budget on education, which stopped the development of K-12 education in US. Even there are sexism in teachers, as American use fixed salary between teachers, but there are always more women than men teachers these years. And some media announced that education is not work for money, the false opinion cover up the low paid and high pressure from teachers’ work. Local government and the society should let teachers share their voice, and to confront their desertion and come out solutions for these problems of teachers.
The rate of teachers getting away from positions become higher and higher, which shows that the salary and working environment is not suitable for people. There are more students go into schools and the recruitment of teachers become serious. I think salary is a method that improve the motivation of teachers to go into classroom and work hard. And compare to other people at the same age, teachers devote more efforts but get less. And local government can not provide enough budget on education, which stopped the development of K-12 education in US. Even there are sexism in teachers, as American use fixed salary between teachers, but there are always more women than men teachers these years. And some media announced that education is not work for money, the false opinion cover up the low paid and high pressure from teachers’ work. Local government and the society should let teachers share their voice, and to confront their desertion and come out solutions for these problems of teachers. If raise the salary and add some bonus for teachers, or come out another plan for providing better working environment for teachers and students, it will not only improve the efficiency of teaching, also get better result of education.
I am continually troubled by the rhetoric that puts down teachers and their profession especially when the phrase “you’re not in it for the money” comes into play. This paints a picture of women and men “volunteering” their time to help kids, rather then them practicing the distinguished and extremely difficult profession that has a profound effect on the future of our children and therefore our country. The fact that 67% of teachers who have left the profession would consider coming back with a compensation raise shows that their is not enough incentive for our teachers in many ways. This includes salary, benefits, and voice. As the article mentions, teacher voice is one of the most valuable tools and often times their voice simply advocates for better resources for our children. Although we are in a scary and troubling time of quarantine for COVID-19, perhaps parents and members of society will begin to understand the value of a teacher and the difficult work they accomplish every minute of every day. This article outlines the ways in which we must incentivize teachers and helps to outline the ways we are failing them. The average college graduates salary has risen significantly while teacher salary has only decreased. Our students benefit through proper teacher incentives, the sooner we realize and implement this strategy, the better the quality of our public education.
I agree that teacher compensation is pretty much non-existent, and it is especially true because of the work that they are expected to produce. Teachers work tirelessly to produce well informed responsible citizens but are met with an unruly amount of adversity while trying to do this. This would include what Nikki Cohron outlines such as, low wages, lack of proper funding, lack of teacher voice, dissatisfaction with accountability measures, class size, working conditions and more. It is upsetting to learn that these problems have remedies, however they are not being fixed because policymakers are not including teachers in the policy making process, although these policies directly affect them.
Something that resonated with me was when Cohron mentioned that because women are known to dominate the teaching field, policymakers who are predominantly male, perpetuate inequalities based on fact, even though there is an increasing amount of males joining the profession. This baffles me because not only is it sexist and discriminatory, it is completely ridiculous to base the worth of a profession based off of who is most likely to enter the field. Overall I was impressed with this article and happy to learn off of the experience of a former teacher.
This article is very good at explaining one of the many common reasons why teachers are leaving their fields. I think that the problem of state funding not being replenished after the 2008 recession is the main issue of many supply shortages for students and teachers around the country. Many complain about the public-school system but do not see that teachers are not being given adequate supplies as well as funding for those supplies and adequate pay in general. Teachers do a lot more work than what the public gives them credit for. One thing that interested me was how the author talked about this idea that teachers do not get into their career for the pay and that means there is little compensation and improvement to teacher’s salaries. It was surprising to me as I have heard that saying many times but not understood it in that way. This article tackles the policy issue of teacher compensation but I also think that this is a public issue because of the way that the public understands the teaching profession in thinking that it is easy when in reality they wouldn’t know how to read without a teacher. Overall this article is very interesting and I agree with the fact that many teachers need a raise as well as more compensation for supplies.
This article discusses the need for higher salaries in the recruitment and retention of teachers. Higher teacher pay seems to be a simple solution to reduce teacher turnover. It is difficult to recruit teachers, which is corresponding to the sharp increase in teachers’ turnover year by year. When some of the teachers who quit and the candidates who have signed or broken the contract were asked about the reasons, they all answered the same way: the income is too low. Indeed, low income is the primary reason for the high turnover rate and difficult recruitment of teachers in these years. In this article, Cohron had uses statistical data to show clearly that teachers’ salaries are low. Also, American teachers work hard, they have 5 or 6 classes a day. In general, there are more than 20 people in each class in public schools and even fewer in private schools. If the average class size is close to 30, it means that the school district is poor and the funding is difficult. The increasing rate of teachers leaving their posts indicates that teachers are not happy with their salaries and working environment. I think salary is a way to improve teachers’ ability to teach in the classroom. Compared with people in other industries, I think teachers give more effort but get less than people in other fields.