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Adrianne Miller
Professor Carolyn Glashoff
English 1102
2 April 2015
A Look Into Teacher Compensation

As a child, a common question asked by adults is What would you like to be when you
grow older? Common responses that never fail to crack a smile on the interested adults face
are, I would like to be a princess or I would like to be a superhero. Of course at the age of 5,
thats a respectable answer, but as the child begins to matriculate, responses such as doctors,
lawyers, and CEOs are viewed as more realistic. Although these are three common responses, I
would like to be a teacher is another realistic answer that unfortunately seems to put a negative
look on an adults face. Why is that? A reoccurring problem within our education system that
continues to cause a lot of controversy is the way educators are compensated. Educators are
underpaid and many adults try to steer their children away from pursuing a career in that field.
Although researchers have not come to a consensus about whether educators should be
compensated more than they are currently, there are various aspects that go unnoticed in regards
to teacher compensation that will be explored.
Laws have been passed to reform teacher compensation, but the situation remains crucial.
As with any controversy, there are individuals who feel as if educators should be compensated
much higher, and there are also individuals who feel as if educators are being compensated
appropriately. According to the heritage foundation, On average, public-school teachers receive
a total compensation that is roughly 50 percent higher than what they would receive in private-

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sector employment with fringe benefits that push their compensation far ahead of what privatesector workers enjoy (Richwine & Biggs 1). While it is evident that teachers do receive a lot of
benefits, the annual compensation is far less than many other occupations. Considering all of
this, the average median pay for educators at a high school level is $55,050, while the average
pay for a college professor is $68,970. These figures are compared to the whopping $113,350
earned by lawyers. If teachers were overpaid, more people would be entering into the teaching
profession as opposed to quitting and steering away from it.
Education is highly valued in our society and educators should be compensated for the
value that they generate. Educators play a variety of roles beyond their obvious job description.
Underlying roles include impacting the futures of every student they come into contact with, as
well as inspiring future successors. Besides teaching and creating lesson plans, educators are
responsible for every individual within their classroom, giving them the role of being a parent
away from home. They not only demonstrate responsibility, but they also nurture and counsel
their students when needed. A lot goes unnoticed concerning a teachers actual job description
and what that teacher does to go the extra mile for their students. Teachers not only work during
the school week, but they also work at home and on weekends. Although this isnt in their job
description, often times a teacher has to sacrifice their own free time to accommodate their
students. Most jobs pay their workers by the actual hours worked. Because teachers often work
outside of school, it is very hard and possibly inaccurate to compensate a teacher based on the
hours that theyve worked. Another thing that goes unnoticed is that teachers sometimes have to
pay for classroom materials out of their own pockets. As stated before, a lot of these things go
unnoticed simply because it is not a part of their highly dense job description.

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Researchers have tried to depict whether teacher compensation should be based on
performance or experience. Evidently, this has caused a bit of controversy. The article How
should School Districts Shape Teacher Salary Schedules? examines the salary schedule of
beginning and veteran teachers. Teachers have the ability to enhance student success and
achievements, giving them the power of impact. To strengthen student performance, researchers
have examined the role of teacher compensation structures in promoting student
achievement(Grimmsom &Strunk 664). One way teacher quality might be improved is by
altering the pay structure within the teaching profession (Leigh 41). Some argue that teachers
should receive merit pay, which is rewarding teachers for their students test scores, while others
argue that teachers should be paid based on their experience. While paying teachers solely on
student performance may seem sufficient, distinguishing whether the teacher fully contributed to
the actual performance can be misleading and misconducted. Rewarding a teacher based on
student performance on standardized tests, for example, is unfair because a lot of key skills such
as organization, management ability, and communication may go unnoticed. In regards to
performance pay and experience, compensation should depend on the workers level of
education and qualification as well as the results and quality of the work (Borovskaia, Masych,
and Bechvaia 5).
Teacher compensation is becoming an even bigger issue because research has also shown
that there has been a decrease in the amount of graduates who have chosen a teaching career.
Problems with teacher supply continue to generate a national concern. The lower the wage
growth in teaching, the less likely is a graduate to choose that career. These earnings effects
operate on initial choices and choices made later in an individuals career(Dolton 103). As
previously stated, if teachers were overpaid, or fairly paid, more people would be entering the

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profession as opposed to quitting and avoiding it. Research has shown that graduates have
avoided the teaching profession due to the lack of compensation. It has also been recorded that
50 percent of teachers leave the profession within three to five years. Furthermore, the teacher
pay gap has been linked to a sharp decline in high-achieving graduates entering the teaching
profession, with potential candidates preferring other careers(Dolton 103). This proves that
there is a lack of interest in this field due to the low compensation. Although it may not seem like
a major issue, it is, because the teachers who made the choice to continue teaching will continue
their career, while up-and-coming graduates will find other career paths. The most disheartening
issue with this situation is that everyone had to be taught by someone. The doctors were taught
by teachers, the lawyers were taught by teachers, the business men were taught by teachers, and
so on. With all of this in mind, teachers still receive less pay than the students who they taught.
Another thing that contributes to teacher compensation is whether the teacher works at a
public or private school. Public schools are funded by the government through federal, state,
and local taxes, while private schools do not receive government money. Private schools raise
their own funds(Allegretto & Tojerow 1). Staffing trends, union affiliations, and average weekly
pay of public and private school teachers were all investigated. Yes, the choice of working at a
public or private school does play a major role in the compensation, and more so if they have
union representation as well, but the opportunity cost of becoming a teacher and remaining in
the profession becomes more and more important as relative teacher pay falls further behind that
of other professions (Allegretto & Tojerow).

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Considering how teachers feel about the pay that they receive is also very essential. The
article How a good girl faces the real world of teaching gave me a lot of insight on how one
teacher felt about her job.
The contrast between the way we think the world should work and the way the world
actually is can break our hearts. That dichotomy makes us feel as if we are alone in
uphold-ing standards. It makes us feel as if no one appreciates how hard we work. It
makes us feel as if we are fighting a losing battleday after day, after day. The stress we
feel as a result of those dashed expectations is what leads to bitterness and
burnout(Thomas, 10).
Reading this article saddened me because I was able to genuinely see how this issue
affected her. To obtain further insight on the perspectives of educators, I decided to conduct two
interviews in which I was given the opportunity to interview two different educators who taught
different levels and divisions. This differentiation was important to me because I wanted to
gather the similarities and differences in their responses. I was given the opportunity to interview
Ms. Lindell Jones from the UCF Creative School. Throughout the interview, I was able to obtain
insight on what her job consisted of, what made her decide to pursue a career in education, and if
she felt that teachers should be compensated better. Her responses are as followed,
My job consists of working with children and making sure theyre safe. I also plan
various activities for the children such as art, music, and writing. I decided to pursue a
career in education because I like working with young children. I think it is important to
watch them grow and learn everyday. I believe that teachers should get paid more
because teachers are the ones who educate our future lawyers, presidents, and so on.

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I was also given the opportunity to interview Ms. Carolyn Glasshoff from the University
of Central Florida English Department. Ms. Glasshoff was asked the same questions and she
responded as followed,
I am a First Year Writing Graduate Instructor who earns $14k/year. My job consists of
creating curriculum assignments, teaching through face-to-face classes and online
platforms, grading and providing feedback to students, attending multiple professional
development workshops each semester, and providing support to my students through
knowledge of campus resources and opportunities. I chose to become a teacher because I
can do my own research and use that to help others succeed, and I feel that what Im
doing makes a direct positive difference in peoples lives. I do. Believe teachers should
get paid more because when most people think about how much time and effort it takes to
teach, they vastly underestimate whats involved. They mainly think of what teachers do
when they are physically in the classroom, but while thats a very important component
of the job it is actually the part that takes less time and effort (at least at the college level).
I believe that at minimum instructors should be paid $5k/class taught, especially
considering the education level they have had to achieve to be able to teach at the college
level in the first place and the continuing required training and research.
Besides conducting both interviews, seeing how happy and engaged Ms. Jones and Ms.
Glasshoff were with their students really gave me insight that the choice of becoming an
educator correlates with the statement choose a job you love and you will never have to work a
day in your life.

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This is a very personal topic for me because I, myself, plan on becoming a teacher in the
future. The way teachers are paid has affected my desire to pursue a career in education countless
times. I am a college freshmen and this has affected my decision so I can only imagine how
current teachers are feeling about this ongoing issue. Although the compensation has affected my
decision, I am still very passionate about educating others and being able to have a lasting impact
on their lives. Because of this, I am still willing to pursue a career in education. Without an
absolute passion for this field, it is very easy for one to give up their dream of becoming a
teacher.
When the topic of teacher pay comes up, people always seem to bring up the idea that
we should be teaching because we just love what we're doing so much. Yes, we like our
jobs (most of us!). Yes, we are often in this because we want to make a difference in
people's lives. But we are not in this profession because we want to be missionaries. We
are highly educated, trained professionals, and we do deserve compensation comparable
to other professional careers (Glasshoff).
We say that money isnt everything, but it actually plays a huge role in todays society.

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Works Cited

Allegretto, Sylvia A., and Ilan Tojerow. "Teacher Staffing And Pay Differences:
Public And Private Schools." Monthly Labor Review (2014): 1-25. Business
Source Premier. Web. 23 Feb. 2015.

Borovskaia, M. A., M. A. Masych, and M. R. Bechvaia. "An Analysis Of


Compensation Systems For College And University Instructors." Russian
Education & Society 56.1 (2014): 3-12. Professional Development
Collection. Web. 23 Feb. 2015.
Dolton, P. (1990). The economics of UK teacher supply: The graduates decision.
Economic Journal, 100(4), 91-104.

Grissom, Jason A., and Katharine O. Strunk. "How Should School Districts Shape
Teacher Salary Schedules? Linking School Performance To Pay Structure In
Traditional Compensation Schemes." Educational Policy 26.5 (2012): 663695. ERIC. Web. 23 Feb. 2015.
Thomas, Sharon. "How A Good Girl Faces The Real World Of Teaching."
Education Digest 5 (2014): 10. Academic OneFile. Web. 23 Feb. 2015.

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