Paying Teachers According to Seniority is Nonsensical and Ineffective

So argues a recently released study by The
New Teacher Project. According to
The Huffington Post:

The report, titled “Shortchanged:
The Hidden Costs of Lockstep Teacher Pay,” says the “lockstep
pay” system of most school districts gives all teachers the same
pay increases, regardless of performance. The report contends
effective teachers should be rewarded, especially in high-poverty
districts that pose the greatest teaching challenges. It estimates
that U.S. school districts spend at least $250 million a year on
automatic pay raises for ineffective teachers.

“Beginning salaries have to be high, one because it’s fair and
new entrants are not going to consider a profession with low
starting salaries,” Tim Daly, TNTP president, said over the phone.
“The second thing is we need to accelerate salary growth for early
top performers. In other careers people often start at a moderate
salary, but top performances accelerate quickly because they get
promoted.”

The study essentially finds that “lockstep pay”—automatic yearly
salary raises given to all teachers regardless of
merit—incentivizes bad teachers to stay in the field (since their
raises are unconditional) and drives away good teachers (since
their efforts go unrewarded).

Paying teachers according to their degree attainment is also
ineffective, the study finds:

Last year alone, schools across the country spent an
estimated $8.5 billion on raises for teachers due to master’s
degrees—enough to cover the cost of all school nutrition
programs for more than 15 million students. When teachers earn
a master’s degree or a PhD, they move into a new “lane” on the
salary scale, which translates into thousands of extra dollars
in salary every year for the rest of their career. In
fact, teachers who pay $25,000 for a master’s
degree today and remain in the profession for 20 years
could expect to triple their investment. Not
surprisingly, 56 percent of all teachers have master’s
degrees.

However, there is mounting evidence that this massive
investment in advanced degrees is wildly disproportionate to
its actual impact on the quality of instruction in classrooms.
Over the last several decades, studies have found that
advanced degrees have little to no measurable effect on a
teacher’s ability to help students learn. In some
cases, advanced degrees may even have a negative
effect.

Teachers union leaders will likely condemn the study—they remain
stubborn defenders of lockstep pay—but perhaps it can provide
ammunition for good teachers whose hard work deserves a logical pay
system.

For more coverage of teacher pay, watch ReasonTV‘s “The
Two-Million-Dollar Teacher.”