The Simple Truth About Teacher Pay: Mo Money, Mo Success
Here's a simple truth that should be as obvious as a pop quiz on a Monday morning: when we pay teachers better, students do better. It's not rocket science, though ironically, better-paid teachers might actually produce more rocket scientists.
In this article, I will walk you through the key research highlights that support The Educator Fund’s thesis: if we want better outcomes for students, we need to pay teachers more. Let’s dive in!
The Evidence is Overwhelming
Here are several separate, independent research initiatives that point to a simple yet powerful idea: when teachers thrive, students soar!
Higher pay results in higher teacher retention rates and better student achievement
Matthew Hendricks' 2014 Texas study effectively drives home the point: paying teachers more improves student achievement through higher retention rates. Novel concept, right? Pay people well and they stick around, get better at their jobs, and students will benefit!
Additionally, researcher Matthew Springer has demonstrated that well-designed salary incentives can reduce teacher turnover and boost student achievement. Specifically, he concluded that properly designed and implemented salary incentive programs, combined with efforts to improve working conditions in lower-performing schools, can help close achievement gaps in schools.
Higher pay = higher student achievement
The international evidence tells the same story. Countries that invest in teacher compensation see better student outcomes across the board. Countries with higher average salaries for experienced teachers are more likely to have higher national achievement.
Pay raises work in both math and English
The most comprehensive U.S. study, conducted by Emma García and Eunice S. Han in 2022, analyzed national data and found that districts offering higher base salaries have significantly better math and English test scores. Even more importantly, higher teacher salaries help close achievement gaps between white and minority students. Financial security is a key factor in achieving educational equity.
10% pay increase = 3-4% fewer dropouts
When economists Susanna Loeb and Marianne Page studied the relationship between teacher wages and student outcomes, they found that increasing teacher wages by 10% led to a 3% to 4% decrease in high school dropout rates. That's right, keeping money in teachers' wallets keeps kids in classrooms. Who would have thought that teachers perform better when they're not moonlighting as Uber drivers to pay rent?
A 10% gap in pay results in a negative impact on school performance
Across the pond, Jack Britton and Carol Propper discovered something equally compelling. In England, where teacher pay is centrally regulated (creating natural experiments that make economists giddy), they found that if the gap between what teachers are paid and what they could earn in the local job market widens by 10% (meaning teacher pay becomes relatively less attractive), it leads to an average loss of about 2% in school performance on key exams taken by students at the end of compulsory schooling in England. In other words, when teacher salaries fall behind what people can earn in other local jobs, it negatively impacts the performance of schools.
The Simple Truth
So here's the simple truth: if we want better outcomes for students, we need to pay our teachers more. In other words, mo money, mo success! When teachers thrive financially, students soar academically. And that's not just good policy; it's common sense, backed by a substantial body of evidence.
If you would like to support our efforts, please feel free to get involved. And if you really want to help drive change, donations are a great way to do so!
