Salary schedules for public school teacher Salary schedules for public school teachers are almost a common feature in public school districts. These schedules largely determine the salaries for the teachers. A single district schedule sets the pay for hundreds of thousands of teachers in thousands of schools (Besharov 1). The key factor that influences the pay for the teachers in the salary schedules include experience in terms of years and the total number of graduate course works that a teacher has completed. This paper will look at the cons and pros of the salary schedules in terms of an economic point of view. Pros of single salary schedule One of the key advantages of the single salary schedule is its simplicity. It is very simple for a teacher to know the salary he or she would receive from the chart depending on his or her years of experience and the number of courseworks. The single salary schedule as well helps in avoiding favoritism and bias. In that respect, it helps in eliminating discrimination amongst teachers with equal level of experience and ones that have completed an equal number of coursework at the university (Podgursky, 13). It helps in ensuring that teachers with the same experience earn equal salaries. It is hard to measure the productivity of teachers and, therefore, it is important to use a single salary schedule in their compensation. In other professions such as engineers, AuthorLastName3 it is easy to measure productivity and, therefore, a different approach of wages must be in use, for example, a schedule based on output. It is not only the contribution by the teachers that determine the performance of students, but other factors, for example, the reading materials and the students’ background. T... ... middle of paper ... ...ther training after graduation. Works Cited Besharov, Douglas. "Teachers Performance: A Review ." Journal of Policy Analyis and Management (2006): 1-41. Betts, Julian. Getting choice right: ensuring equity and efficiency in education policy. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2005. Johnstone, Bruce. "Investing more equitably and efficiently in higher education, creating value for America." National Dialogue on Student Financial Aid (2003): 6-10. Print. Podgursky, Michael. The Single Salary for teachers in K-12 public schools. New York: Prentice Hall, 2002. "The Single Salary Schedule for Teachers in K-12 Public Schools." Department of Economics (2002): 1-18. Print. Wolf, Patrick. "Lost Opportunities: lawmakers threaten D.C scholarships despite evidence of benefits." Unabridged version of article published in education next 9:4 (2009): 1-15.
School funding is a recurring issue in the modern era. Debates ranging from give schools more money, to get rid of the system in place and reform a new idea have been plaguing the world over the years. “The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, signed in 2009, provided more than $100 billion in education aid to offset budget cuts..” (School Finance). Later, “Congress provided an additional $10 billion in 2010 to avert mass teacher layoffs (Education Week, "Total Recovery Act")” (School Funding). These numbers are just a sample of the struggles in school funding, that is costing a ton of money to keep afloat. “There are many ways schools fund varying from state to state and even school to school. Income taxes, corporate taxes, sales taxes, and other fees provide 48 percent of the elementary and secondary school funds. 44 percent of local districts draw money from local property taxes. The federal government makes up approximately 8 percent of state education budgets. These funds are a dealt out on a per-student basis, and categorically to ensure enough resources for each special program or facility” (School Funding). These funds play a huge role in every student's education, either positive or negative. The three main areas that need to be addressed in the school budget are extracurricular funding, building and equipment maintenance, and last but not least staff funding.
Teachers would firstly benefit from an implementation of year-round school by additional income earning opportunities. In a year-round system, several “tracks” are established, so that the students and teachers on each track rotate through periods of vacation and school time. Teachers who are on vacation constitute a pool of substitute teachers. The benefit to the teacher is the opportunity to earn money beyond that provided in the contract (Quinlan, 71). This is a revolutionary means for teachers to have both full-time teaching careers and a means to earn needed money on the side. In a nine-month calendar, educators have few chances to actively earn money by teaching during the summer bre...
Vance, J.D. "The college trap: our higher-education system hurts the poor." National Review 27 Jan. 2014. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.
Taylor Mali, an American slam poet and teacher, wrote a poem titled, “What Teachers Make”. In this poem, he rhythmically tells about other professions criticizing teachers based on their choice of occupation. While teachers will never earn six figure incomes, they make a difference. Teachers dedicate their lives to leading, inspiring, and educating future generations, all while earning meager pay. Though teachers form foundation of education, their pay does not accurately represent their skills. Using merit pay systems will properly assess how much a teacher should be paid, based on their teaching ability.
Grubb, Norton. The Money Myth: School Resources, Outcomes, and Equity. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2009. Print.
Lemann, Nicholas; How can we cut the costs of a college degree? Higher ed, not Club Med; US News & World Report, v121 (Dec. 30 '96-Jan. 6 '97), 1996, pp. 44-50
A typical day for an elementary teacher would go as follows: instruct students individually and in groups using various teaching methods, write lessons plans to meet students’ needs and interests, and constantly monitor student’s learning and behavior. In addition, , a teacher may have to attend staff or club meetings, be required to go to parent teacher conferences and might even chaperone field trips. For teaching methods, depending on the teacher and what subject they teach, they may be more comfortable giving lectures, having discussions or demonstrating lessons, or all three. As a teacher, clear objectives and an understanding of what students want to achieve is very important.
We can see that piecework is a direct indicator of the employees output. In addition, the year end bonus is linked with the profit the company earns. The guaranteed employment provides employees the base line for their life, so they don’t have to be worried about getting fired or searching for other jobs, which makes them more concentrated on their jobs. From the combination of these three components, employees can have confidence to work and to understand that their performance will be measured properly.
A teacher’s effect on students is significant because teachers have greater influence on student achievement than a school. Robert Marzano’s study separating a school’s effect on student achievement from a teacher’s effect on student achievement supports this notion. Marzano found that an ineffective teacher in an effective school environment has little to no effect on student achievement. To the contrary, an effective teacher in an ineffective school environment was found to have a ...
If part or all of the one’s salary is contingent on how well you actually perform your job, one will go the extra mile. The individual will attack his/her work with vigor and revel in the rewards. And...
Marcus, Jon. "Financial aid not always going to neediest college students." Hechinger Report . N.p., 25 Nov. 2011. Web. 22 Nov. 2013. .
We have to admit that humans often need incentives. For most people, money is a driving force which can inspire them to make progress (Barbieri, 52). If by performing better, you could earn more money, I think most people would gladly perform well and strive to achieve better results. Teachers are also human beings, and the vast majority of them would feel the same. Higher wages can increase the enthusiasm and motivation of teachers. At the same time, merit pay can improve teachers’ motivation, not only because of the money, but also because of a sense of accomplishment (Honawar and Olson, 26-27). When a teacher, through his or her own careful research of teaching strategies, passion, and devotion to teaching, help his or her students get better grades and is also rewarded by the schools, he or she will be filled with a sense of purpose. This will make that teacher know his or her effort is worth it, and in following lessons he or she would strive to expend even more energy and time to improving his or her teaching level and quality. Meanwhile, outstanding teachers will also become role models for other teachers who do not get bonuses. In this case, in a school, it will form a healthy competition among teachers. Everyone will be more diligent and strive to improve the level and quality of their
In a book written by Farr (2010) book, Teacher as Leadership: the Highly Effective Teachers Guide to Closing the Achievement Gap, effective teachers are ...
Meyer, Warren. "The Teacher Salary Myth - Are Teachers Underpaid?." Forbes. N.p., 22 Dec. 2011. Web. 5 Apr. 2014. .
As you can see the school board handles many issues from budgets, to tenure, to performance scores, to conferences. Although this paper did not cover everything in the meeting, it summarized what took place, and what affects it would have on teachers. The decisions made no matter how big or small can influence how and what task a teacher performs. The school board meeting was interesting because you are able to see how the changes could affect you personally.