A few weeks ago, yet another study showed American students being outpaced in mathematics achievement by students in other countries. In "Teaching Math to the Talented," published in the winter 2011 edition of Education Next, researchers from Stanford and Harvard compared U.S. math achievement at the advanced level with that of 56 other countries. They found that American students ranked about in the middle. Other international studies of core subjects have similarly concluded that U.S. students perform around or somewhat above the average for participating countries.
What has not received sufficient attention is a comparison of the salaries paid to teachers in the U.S. and countries -- and whether there could be a connection between salary levels and student achievement.
A few months ago, the widely respected Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development released Building a High Quality Teaching Profession: Lessons from Around the World, which analyzes how high-performing countries have created highly professional and effective teaching forces. Included in this report is a telling chart which shows that American teachers are paid less than teachers in many other countries.
For each participating nation, OECD calculated the ratio of the average salaries of teachers with 15 years' experience to the average earnings of full-time workers with a college degree. The U.S. ranked 22nd out of 27 countries on this measure. In the U.S., teachers earned less than 60% of the average pay for full-time college-educated workers. In many other countries, teachers earn between 80% and 100% of the college-educated average.
To address this issue and make teaching in the U.S. more attractive, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has called for teacher salaries that start at $60,000 and eventually rise to $150,000 -- far higher than current teacher pay in nearly all U.S. school districts. Clearly, compensation is not the only reason why people do not go into teaching, but it is a major consideration. As Secretary Duncan said in a speech to the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards on July 29:
Money is never the reason why people enter teaching, but it is the reason why some people do not enter teaching, or leave as they start to think about beginning a family or buying a home. Today, too often the heart-breaking reality is that a good teacher with a decade of classroom experience is hard-pressed to raise a family on a teacher's salary.
Last year, McKinsey & Co, a major market researching firm, concluded that the U.S. was not attracting enough higher-performing college students to teaching. (See Closing the Talent Gap: Attracting and Retaining Top-Third Graduates to a Career in Teaching.) To make U.S. teacher salaries competitive with those of other careers open to top students would mean paying teachers around $65,000 to $150,000 a year. McKinsey found that three high-achieving countries recruit all of their teachers from the top third of the academic talent pool. In the U.S., by contrast, top-achievers account for 23 percent of all new teachers and just 14 percent of new teachers in high-poverty schools.
Secretary Duncan, OECD, and others who have studied how to improve the quality of our nation's teaching force have rightly called for a comprehensive approach that will lead to greater professionalization of teaching. On one hand, teachers must have greater autonomy similar to other professionals, and they must have the tools, resources, and support needed to be professional. On the other hand, there must be much greater rigor in admitting people into teaching and in determining who should stay in the profession. Higher salaries are a fundamental, indispensable ingredient for both new and veteran teachers.
The quality of the teacher is the most important school-based factor in determining how well a student will do academically. Common sense tells us this, and research, such as the Tennessee longitudinal study, has confirmed it.
If teachers are so important, why don't our schools attract and keep the best teachers? We have many good and dedicated teachers, but not always the best. A major reason is that we aren't willing to pay excellent teachers what they deserve. Further, we aren't willing to make other changes to ensure a high-quality teaching force.
It is difficult to advocate for higher salaries for teachers during these hard economic times, but we aren't going to make long term progress economically if we don't have a better educated citizenry. Business leaders have been saying this for years. Paying teachers higher wages and getting and retaining good teachers is integral to achieving that goal.
The reason I bring this up, is that TEACHERS (public school teachers) are the ones who refuse talk of an overhaul of the system that siphons off money from the classroom, that keeps them comfortably employed, and insulated from any accountability in/& of economic concerns...
I talk about a fundamental revamping of this corrupted system. Invariably, teachers respond and say we don't need it. Either they are precisely the LEMMINGS that this seems to indicate, or they realize that in revamping the system, the comfy nook that they've had built for themselves will suddenly be exposed.
Teachers are resistant to BAD reform ideas that simply cut classroom support to the bone. I can't tell you how many times in my career I've been told of some reform that is billed as the next best thing since sliced bread and all it does is generate money for consultants, more non-productive work for me and zero benefit to my students. THOSE reforms I'm resistant to.
Over the years the loudest reformers seem to have the least experience with what is really going on in the public school class room. Just because you can eat doesn't make you a cook and just because you sat in a classroom in 9th grade doesn't make you an expert on education.
So true! What is implied with the above quote is that teachers are more important than anything else, but we know that is not the case--there is a mountain of research, since the 60's, that shows us the MOST important factor impacting a child's education is socioeconomic status of the child's parents.
Views differ, but somewhere between 60-90% of factors influencing a child's ability to do well i school come from home. That means that the ever so important teacher can effect between 10-30% of variables in a child's education.
These numbers therefore indicate that SES and poverty have more to do with student outcomes than ANY in-school factor, yet reformers ONLY look at in-school factors.
Are they so narrow that they don't get it? Or, are they greedy entrepreneurs looking to marketize our public education system.
You decide.
I have taught for 19 years, and I am married to a spouse with a full-time job, and we struggle every month to keep our household afloat. It would be wonderful if, before I retire (assuming that is still an option for me in 13 years or so), this country would wake up and pay teachers something a tad bit closer to what we are worth.
Michelle Rhee and her organization are notorious for forgetting to put the words "in-school" factor when discussing factors.
And that is why I made my comment, so there would be no confusion about factors and what the spinmeisters say.
Well, America can't afford the pay increases, but you can always apply the "rigor" part! Just start firing "bad" teachers and see how things work out for you.
Hint: I have not applied for work in America in a couple years now (I'm an expat again), but I still get email from principals trying to staff their math departments. I suppose it is possible that those math departments have teachers that need firing, but then who will replace them? Certainly not me, as they are not offering enough in term or either compensation or administrative and community support.
If you want to make the education system better, you're going to have to go after the root cause of why it fails, when it does. That's poverty and inequality, and parents and communities that don't value education, or have more immediate concerns. But you might have to raise taxes on the rich to address that, so I'm not holding my breath.
As inequity continues to grow in our country, so too will the disparity in schooling successes.
http://www.dailykos.com/blog/iTeachQ/
So while we may need to shuffle around the education spending don't let anyone in fact tell you that we need to throw more money at the problem.
http://www.dailyplunge.com/tag/per-pupil-spending-by-country/
So if you support free trade and globalization you can't turn around and expect me to pay for YOUR kid's school as you offshore jobs.
How many people with the education level of teachers are routinely sworn at, have things thrown at them, are assaulted, or (although rarely) been maimed or killed on the job?
In addition to the job for which they were hired ( which was to teach academics or whatever the area of specialty is), teachers are also expected to practically raise the students and teach them everything their parents have neglected to take the time to do.
Then, daily in the media, the entire profession is castigated for not curing every single social ill under the sun and for that over which they have no control or influence. Then, the media heaps praise on the "reformers" who make teachers' jobs even more difficult--even though many of them have little or no teaching experience themselves.
Also, more and more is expected with less and less money in the budget for materials and equipment. Many schools must have security officers to keep a modicum of safety. And, finally, teachers are expected to buy for students out of their own pockets.
If teacher retention is going to be seriously addressed, I would like to see all of the above included as issues to discuss and resolve.
From 1997 to 2001, teachers were the victims of approximately 1.3 million nonfatal crimes at school, including 817,000 thefts and 473,000 violent crimes (rape or sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault).
Among the violent crimes, there were 48,000 serious violent crimes, including rape or sexual assault, robbery, & aggravated assault.
On average, these figures translate into a rate of 21 violent crimes per 1,000 teachers, and 2 serious violent crimes per 1,000 teachers annually.
Urban teachers were more likely than rural & suburban teachers to be victims of violent crimes (28 vs. 13 and 16 crimes, respectively, per 1,000 teachers). It's less for the burbs, but not minuscule.
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2004/crime03/9.asp