Salaries & Benefits
Education news, analysis, and opinion about pay and benefits for school and district employees
See also: Performance Pay, Retirement & Pensions, Unions, Teaching Profession
Teacher Pay, Explained: Salary, Benefits, and Pensions
Learn how teachers are compensated, and the role that states and districts play in setting pay.
Families & the Community
Opinion
New Year's Advocacy Resolutions
Key issues to advocate for in 2013.
Teaching
Opinion
Teachers Deserve Higher Salaries With Those Standards
For the last decade, the salaries of teachers have increased only 3.4 per cent when you factor in inflation. It is time to prioritize higher salaries with those higher standards.
Teaching Profession
Approved Newark Teachers' Contract Creates Two-Tiered Salary Schedule
Newark teachers approved a contract that overhauls pay and evaluation systems.
Teaching Profession
Teacher-Pay Experiments Big and Small in New Jersey, Michigan
Teacher-compensation experiments continue to proliferate from big districts to small ones.
Teaching Profession
Implementation of Michigan Pay-Reform Initiative Questioned
Many districts and teachers' unions in Michigan don't appear to have refashioned their pay schedules in accordance with a 2010 state law, while others have met the letter of the law's requirements but not its spirit, contends an analysis by a free-market think tank.
Recruitment & Retention
Opinion
Performance-Based Compensation is Nothing New in Higher Ed
Performance-based compensation has been a hot topic in K-12 education as hundreds of districts across the country explore the strategy through Race to the Top, the Teacher Incentive Fund, and other federal, state, and local initiatives. However, some in the higher education community are also receiving attention for their compensation efforts. The University of Texas (UT) was in the news recently after their Board of Trustees approved a strategic compensation plan for the university's six health centers, 11 system administrators, and nine campuses.
Recruitment & Retention
Opinion
Chicago Contract Busts Budget; Layoffs Loom for Lowest Performers
Chicago teachers voted overwhelmingly today to ratify their new contract, sealing the deal that ended September's 7-day strike. The Chicago Teachers Union prevailed in obtaining a 2-3% annual raise for the next three to four years (totaling as much as 17.6% cumulatively), and in keeping the teacher workday short despite a lengthening of the school day for elementary students.
Teaching Profession
Opinion
Teach for America: Short-Term Service, Long-Term Lessons
Teach for America is working and there are lessons to be learned but we need a long term solution.
Federal
U.S. ED Unveils $290 Million in Performance-Pay Grants
The New Haven and Los Angeles United school systems are among the winners of new federal grants to support differentiated pay for teachers.
Recruitment & Retention
Opinion
USDOE Announces TIF Round 4 Awards
Today, the U.S. Department of Education announced the recipients of round four of the Teacher Incentive Fund. The TIF 4 competition has two components: the General TIF Competition and the TIF Competition with a Focus on STEM. The districts and states that secured awards include:
School Climate & Safety
Opinion
Yes, Teachers Do Have A Breaking Point
We all remember the scene in the movie Network where a character throws open the window, sticks his head out, and yells, "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore." Last week, about 30,000 educators in Chicago came to a similar breaking point.
Teaching Profession
Opinion
The Politics of the Chicago Teachers' Strike
Marc Tucker weighs-in on the politics of the Chicago teachers' strike.
Recruitment & Retention
Opinion
Why Are You Still In Your Job?
According to a recent American Psychological Association (APA) Workforce Retention Survey of more than 1,200 Americans with full-time and part-time jobs, "despite uncertainty in the job market, the top reasons working Americans say they stay with their current employers are work-life fit and enjoying what they do." Specifically:
Teaching Profession
Opinion
Should Certification Require a Master's Degree?
In my last post, I asked whether a Master's degree is worth the tens of thousands of dollars in tuition, time, and opportunity cost, given that it doesn't correlate with better teaching performance.