This is Part 2 of a new blog series responding to renewed interest in teacher compensation. We’re featuring infographics to convey what we know about teacher pay and its relationship to ensuring equal education opportunity for all students.
Read Part 1 here.
Last week, we featured D.C.’s IMPACTplus because we think it’s bang on in terms of doing what’s right. The program provides teachers a living wage that respects their worth, and as a result, retention rates are high.
Today’s infographics show two things. The first shows that we lose far too many of our most effective teachers. TNTP calls these teachers the “Irreplaceables.” It’s not just Beyonce that’s “irreplaceable,” but also teachers in the top 20% of effectiveness: 10,000 teachers of whom scoring in the top 20% of effectiveness leave the nation’s 50 largest school districts each year. This is inexcusable when we think of how important these educators are to our nation’s children, and thus to our society at large.
Second, we think a large part of why they leave has to do with the fact that 90% of districts don’t recognize their effectiveness through increased compensation. Research supports this hypothesis, at least when it comes to attracting and retaining great teachers in schools where they’re needed most. Mathematica researchers found that when high performing teachers were offered large financial incentives to transfer to low-performing schools, in just two years, students increased their proficiency ten points in Reading, and nine points in Math.
