Poll Finds Support for Changes in Teacher Pay

Washington

More than seven out of 10 Americans favor at least modest changes to the traditional way teachers are paid, although six out of 10 would endorse higher teacher salaries even without such changes, according to poll results released last week.

The Teaching Commission, a bipartisan group based in New York City that pushes for improved teaching in the nation’s public schools, commissioned the surveys, which found support for higher pay even if that meant tax increases.

The survey work was conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates and Harris Interactive. The firms polled 934 members of the general public, including an oversample of public school parents, and 553 teachers over Nov. 19-23, 2004. The margin of error for the polls was 3.5 percentage points for the public and 4.3...