New Report Focuses on Teacher Pay, Pensions, and Reform Proposals

WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Reforms are needed in the way American public school teachers are paid to ensure that schools will be able to meet their goals and meet the demands for raising student achievement. That is a core conclusion of Teacher Compensation and Teacher Quality, a new report from the Committee for Economic Development (CED), a business-led public policy group. Schools must attract and retain high-quality teachers, the report states, but "traditional compensation policies for teachers are out of sync with the objective of expanding the pool of talented individuals who are willing to teach."

"Public education leaders around the country are beginning to try promising new ways to compensate teachers. We cannot cling to outmoded approaches to teacher salaries and pensions if we are to attract the highest-quality teacher candidates. Improvements to the ways we pay our teachers will pay off in a better-educated workforce," said Charles Kolb, CED President.

The "single salary schedule" used by practically all districts to determine teacher pay was, when first adopted almost a century ago, an important antidote to the often arbitrary and discriminatory practices then common. Today, this approach to compensation suffers from a number of shortcomings, including a disconnection from teacher performance. Research increasingly shows that longevity and academic credentials beyond the bachelor's degree are not strong indicators of whether a teacher is successful in raising student achievement. In addition, pay that reflects only seniority and credentials is not structured to encourage differentiated roles and promotional possibilities that could motivate strong performers to remain in teaching.

CED believes that performance-based pay, pay linked to career paths, and labor-market-based pay would improve the teacher pay system.

"Linking some part of teacher pay to effectiveness on the job is a necessary reform that would put teachers on a similar footing with other working professionals. Successful teachers should be rewarded through the pay system in a way that reflects their success in improving student outcomes," said Steffen Palko, President and Vice Chairman (retired) XTO Energy Inc., CED Trustee and Co-Chair of the Human Resources Policies in Education Subcommittee, which produced Teacher Compensation and Teacher Quality.

CED recommends that business leaders need to encourage both state and district policy makers to take appropriate steps to align compensation policies with the goal of improving teacher quality. Teacher Compensation and Teacher Quality provides specific examples of promising reforms, including:

• Teachers should be evaluated for compensation purposes in part on the basis of on-the-job performance as demonstrated by student learning. Quantitative measures of learning, where available, and qualitative assessments of teachers' skills, knowledge, and classroom effectiveness should be utilized.
• Compensation policies should treat teachers equitably whether they stay on the job for 20 to 30 years or work in teaching for a more limited time. These policies should not penalize teachers interested in being in the classroom for less than a full career, such as second-career teachers and those who want to pursue another career after a period in the classroom. They should not penalize teachers who move to a different district or state.
• Career paths with significant opportunities for promotion and increased compensation should be created for teachers. Teachers should not have to leave the classroom for administrative positions in order to raise their salaries significantly. They should have options for full-time, full-year employment, as administrators do.
• New compensation policies should reflect the fact that teachers in some fields are harder to recruit and retain because they have more numerous employment opportunities outside of education. Compensation for teachers should reflect these labor market realities, as does compensation for college professors, doctors, and virtually all other professionals.
• New compensation policies should create incentives for teachers to take jobs in schools facing the biggest performance challenges. Without such incentives, teaching talent will continue to be very inequitably distributed, to the disadvantage of the most at-risk students.
• Policy makers should support the "enabling conditions" that are necessary for designing and implementing new compensation systems that encourage genuine instructional improvement and increased student learning. These include (1) more effective teacher evaluation and professional development systems, (2) better student and teacher data systems, (3) sustainable funding, (4) state and federal policies that incentivize districts to create new forms of pay and remove obstacles to their doing so, and (5) wide stakeholder involvement in the process of compensation reform.
  

The full Teacher Compensation and Teacher Quality report can be found at: http://www.ced.org/images/library/reports/education/tctqreport09.pdf and for more information on CED's work on education: www.ced.org.

CED is a non-profit, non-partisan organization of more than 200 business leaders and university presidents. Since 1942, its research and policy programs have addressed many of the nation's most pressing economic and social issues, including education reform, workforce competitiveness, campaign finance, health care, and global trade and finance. CED promotes policies to produce increased productivity and living standards, greater and more equal opportunity for every citizen, and an improved quality of life for all.

    Contact: Morgan Broman (202)-296-5860 ext. 14
    Morgan.Broman@ced.org

SOURCE Committee for Economic Development

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