Top pay, top teachers
Tuesday's lead editorial.
Gov. Mike Easley pushed hard during his tenure to raise North Carolina teachers' salaries to the national average, but didn't quite get there.
The next governor should take a fresh approach. Reaching a moving target like the national average isn't an end in itself. More important is figuring out how to relate teachers' pay to students' success.
Some local school systems, like Guilford County's, already have taken steps in that direction by providing bonuses for outstanding teachers willing to teach certain subjects and in certain schools. The policy recognizes a connection between compensation and desired educational outcomes.
Now a Duke University economist suggests further steps. North Carolina isn't getting the best results from the way it rewards teachers, Jacob Vigdor, associate professor of public policy studies and economics, writes in Education Next published by the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.
The state pays beginning teachers too little and some others too much, Vigdor contends. He's not impressed with practices that grant higher salaries for advanced degrees and national certification, or even the schedule that keeps teachers from reaching the top salary level until they're ready to retire.
"The available evidence suggests that the connection between credentials and teaching effectiveness is very weak at best and the connection between additional years of experience and teaching effectiveness, while substantial in the first few years in the classroom, attenuates over time," he writes.
His proposal: Save money paid for credentials and use it to substantially raise salaries for beginning teachers, and then give them steep increases for their next few years.
That would attract more young people to the profession and help them keep up with their peers in other occupations, who often approach peak earning levels by their mid-30s, Vigdor says. That links pay to proficiency, he adds, because teachers tend to improve their effectiveness most rapidly in their first few years. Then slow down pay raises later when teachers' impact on student achievement shows more modest gains.
That's one researcher's opinion. It's not without flaws. For one, Vigdor's model wouldn't apply to every teacher. But it warrants debate anyway, along with other proposals, like higher pay for tough assignments. All ideas should be on the table, without regard to opposition from vested interests.
It's common in professions where compensation depends on merit for relatively young men and women to match their elders in salary -- professional sports, for example.
That approach probably is too radical for the public sector, but imagine the possibilities if, instead of paying average teachers the average salary, the state's goal was to pay the best teachers the best salaries, even if they were only in their 30s. Maybe that would pay off most for students.
Comments (7)
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I agree with most of the article, that educators should be paid by measurable performance and not their degree grade or whether they have filled out the paperwork for certification, neither of which is no measure of their success in the classroom. Since however bureaucrats have by definition no idea how to measure performance in a free market-driven service like education, the ultimate solution is privatization, which will happen automatically through vouchers. To his credit, Mr. McCrory advocates these while Mrs. Perdue villifies them. But parents across the state "get it" and want vouchers. One aspect of your article is inaccurate. When adjusted for the generous state benefits package and cost of living, teachers in NC now rank 9th in the nation in overall compensation. All businesses adjust benefits and pay according to local conditions; government schools should do the same. Given continued lackluster performance in our K-12 schools, especially in the largest systems, teachers are actually overpaid. Even worse are administrators, and we have far too many of these. There is little worth saving in the government schools, so bring on vouchers and let the free market provide us with superior products at lower costs, just as markets do for all other products and services.
Posted on September 9, 2008 11:19 AM
For anyone who says teachers are underpaid, I have always asked them to show me one other job where you get an instant pay raise just for going back to school. Show me another job that gives two and a half months vacation to new employees. Show me another job that pays 100% of insurance premiums for individuals.
Doing away with pay incentives for advanced degrees is a start, but take that money and uptrain teachers during the months that students are on summer break. Why should teachers get the time off also? They have mandatory development days during the school year on "teacher workdays". Why not move all of these to the summer and increase the skills of all teachers? They should have to work 12 months like everyone else.
The other thing that's needed in Guilford County is to do away with tenure-based retention practices. If enrollment numbers are down and teachers have to be moved from one school to another, it is based on seniority and new teachers get moved around. Make decisions like this based on performance and watch teachers start to deliver. As it is, they get complacent and do the same things over and over, protected by their years of service. What a great way to reward people just for showing up!
Posted on September 10, 2008 12:35 PM
Once again we have the failed liberal philosophy that incorrectly equates money with performance. Take a look at the NYYankees to see the fallacy of that (il)logic. The monoply of our failed government schools, in the vise of the God-awful teacher unions, continues to demand more money, and better benefits for teachers while all indicators show our schools continuing to decline.
The average pay in the D.C. schools is about $58,000 a year, which i assume doesn't include benefits. Yet, the D.C. schools are the worst, or among the worst in the country. But I would wager, that they at least know how to identify gangs!
Posted on September 10, 2008 4:31 PM
DexterG...when was the last time you spent a whole day in a classroom to SEE what it's really like? I am an experienced mentor teacher who works with new teachers daily. They are overwhelmed with acquiring classroom management skills, even if classes are "good." Students require constant supervision and attention in addition to the teaching of a state-mandated curriculum. New teachers are probationary...for a reason. More money is wonderful, but it doesn't bring experience, which is the key to good classroom management and effective teaching strategies.
I am sure that there are complacent teachers, just as complacency plagues all other professions, but students will eat them alive and drive them out eventually. As for our glorious summer, ten month employees (teachers) don't get paid.
Volunteer at your neighborhood high school for one week. Then, you will have a clear view of what it is to be a teacher...new AND experienced.
Posted on September 10, 2008 8:56 PM
tchrgirl54-
I never said teaching was easy, and most of your statements support my conclusion that teachers should be trained over the summer when students aren't there. It is a huge wasted opportunity.
I know for a fact that up to this year GCS teachers had the option to be paid salaries across 12 months. They were forced this year to go to 10 months and most are quite upset about it.
A salary is a salary whether it is paid 10 times, 12 times, 26 times or 52 times a year. If your boss says take two and a half months off and your job will be here when you get back, that's a benefit. I would take it in a heartbeat. (By the way, every teacher I know rubs everyone else's nose in the fact that they are going to be off for their "glorious" summer.)
Most importantly, everyone is presented an offer from a potential employer and (most) everyone chooses their major in college. If it's too hard, or the money's no good, then don't do it. When there is a dire shortage of teachers, the compensation will go up. (As the new GCS incentives show.)
I've never met a person in any job who thinks that they are adequately paid for what they do, and I have met many millionaires. It's human nature.
Personally, I think high starting wages for teachers would be the WORST thing you could do, because then you would never get experience in the classroom. People who aren't suited to teaching would be there just for the money and they would leave when it leveled off.
Posted on September 11, 2008 1:13 AM
I have taught in NC's public schools since graduating from Wake Forest in 1968. I also served in the NC General Assembly for 10 terms. Teaching has changed drastically over the last ten years. Testing now dominates every aspect of our public schools. Improving our public schools is much more complicated than simply having vouchers. Our schools are too big. Smaller schools have greater parental involvement and teacher/parent communication.
The fact that I know most of the parents of my students and that I see them at the grocery store, post office, or ball game is a great benefit. We need more technology and training in how to use it in the classroom. Presently we are creating two faculties within the same school. One faculty teaches those courses which are tested and the other faculty teaches non-tested courses. The non-tested courses are giving up time and importance to the tested courses. As for the nationally certified teachers, I doubt that they are any better than the rest of us. And I helped create the program as Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
The teaching profession is one of the most rewarding occupations an individual could have. How we determine who are the better teachers is beyond me. I've had low achievers who didn't reach level three. And worked like a dog with tutoring, etc. And I've had great students who scored very high and I didn't have to go the extra mile to get to level four.
However, I do feel that the motivation and work ethic of the individaul student has declined thru the years. And we have become very top heavy with administrators and "experts" running around to the schools telling us how and what to teach. And just a suggestion- perhaps we should hold the university system accountable the same way as the public schools. Now that suggestion would get the immediate attention of the UNC systems' lobbyists. I'll bet many officials would get tickets to see Carolina and State play some football and basketball games.
Posted on September 11, 2008 1:31 AM
My hide is never chapped about my salary or the stupid bonus that is calculated based upon some changing formula every year (schools often don't even KNOW what the bonus elements will be until the data is released). The teachers at my school learned only yesterday that 5 areas we thought were included in "The Formula" were left out this year...of course, 5 areas in which we did really well...these didn't even count in the end. Who knew?
Everyone is a classroom expert, however, and THAT does chap my hide. I go to classes in the summer....every summer. I am nationally board certified, and I must say that anyone who doesn't improve his or her teaching methods after that process is either dead or dying.
Like I said...come and spend some time with us and see where your money is going. It will be a wonderful learning experience....even for all you experts out there.
Posted on September 11, 2008 3:05 PM