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The Bottom Line The Teacher Pay Debate (Part 1): Why the Debate?

[Editor’s Note: This is Part One of a three-part article. Click to read Part Two and Part Three .]

How can we pay teachers more? The question was raised this week by an American Center for Transforming Education reader. The premise of the question is teachers are not adequately paid, a frequently heard argument. But what is the reality? The teacher pay debate will be examined in a three-part article. 

When respondents are not provided any salary information for context, an Education Next poll found 72% of the general population believes public school teacher salaries should increase. When provided with teacher salary information, that percentage fell to 56 — yet still over half of those surveyed felt teachers were underpaid. Forty percent said salaries should “stay about the same,” while only five percent felt a decrease in teacher pay was in order.

Most other professions don’t encounter public polls assessing whether employees are overpaid, adequately paid, or underpaid. So why the pay debate regarding public educators? Is it primarily because these teachers are government employees funded by taxpayer money? Likely not, since the salaries of post office or department of motor vehicle licensing personnel are seldom a subject of discussion (with the possible exception of those times when one is standing in a long, slow-moving line or experiencing less than stellar customer service at the post office or DMV).

Conversely, public school teacher pay provokes strong and sometimes emotionally heated opinions. A combination of at least three key factors is likely at work. First is the sheer number of teachers per state. In some communities, K-12 public education is among the largest employer, and teachers are more visible than professionals in other industries. Second is the life-shaping influence a teacher can have on students — and subsequently their entire family. Third, teacher unions possess a boisterous megaphone to proclaim their members are underpaid, which keeps the issue in the headlines.

Factor three requires special focus because teacher unions’ influence on the public education system is highly problematic. Teachers pay dues, and in turn, teacher unions negotiate for increased teacher pay and benefits, year-after-year. If demands aren’t met, teachers strike — to the detriment of students and their parents.

Teacher unions maintain their dominance through political action, providing substantial funding to candidates in exchange for support and advancement of their agenda. For example , just prior to the 2020 November election, the National Education Association had raised $23 million, with 99% allocated to Democratic candidates. The American Federation of Teachers pumped nearly $10.7 million into the 2020 election, with 98.6% donated toward Democrats. It’s no wonder that Democratic party elected officials cater to teacher union agendas, especially when those unions promote a narrative of harmful teacher working conditions (including outright danger in a COVID-19 era) and near poverty level pay.

Teaching is a noble profession, and public appreciation of what teachers do fuel a passionate belief with many that teachers should be paid more. However, the more teachers earn, the more money their unions receive, and union control grows — hence, a mutually beneficial financial and power relationship. But the fundamental question remains. Beyond the public opinion polls and teacher union narrative, what is the reality of K-12 public school teacher pay? This question will be examined in Part Two of this series. 

• K-12 public school teachers
• public opinion polls
• teacher benefits
• teacher pay
• teacher pay debate
• teacher salaries
• teacher union narrative
• teacher unions

12 Reasons Why Teachers Should Get Paid More

Written by Nathan Brunner .

Last updated on February 23, 2024.

Teachers are the backbone of society, shaping the minds of the next generation.

Yet, despite their pivotal role, teachers are often undervalued and under-compensated.

Colombia Cauman, assistant principal at the Austin Independent School District, sounds the alarm about low teacher salaries:

In my opinion, we need to raise awareness among the general public about the importance of fair compensation for teachers. By fostering a collective understanding and support for this cause, we can create a positive environment for change. To address the issue of teacher salaries, policymakers and education stakeholders should collaborate to find sustainable solutions. This may involve reallocating funds within educational budgets or seeking external sources of funding. Colombia Cauman Assistant Principal at Austin Independent School District

There is no doubt that we need to convince our politicians to increase teacher salaries. Otherwise, great teachers could quit public education, leading to a teacher shortage and poor student performance.

This is why I have gathered 12 reasons why it is urgent to give teachers higher pay!

Tip : Find a New Teacher Job on Salarship .

1. Teachers Are Quitting

Almost everyone knows that teachers don’t get paid enough. So if you say you’re studying to be a teacher, people will joke about how poor you’ll be and how you won’t be able to support a family on a teacher’s salary alone.

According to recent statistics published on CNBC , 1 in 4 teachers consider quitting their jobs. The reasons cited are stress, low pay, and lack of recognition.

The worst thing is that teachers who consider quitting are those who have many other opportunities. Not retaining these high-achieving teachers could lead to a decline in student performance!

2. Unsafe Working Conditions

Teaching is not the safe career it used to be, and teachers’ salaries should adapt to this new reality.

According to John Ross, President of Test Prep Insight, teachers get no respect these days:

As an educator, I can say firsthand that it has never been harder to be a teacher. There is a reason why there are teacher shortages all over the country. Connecting with and navigating the personalities of kids is more difficult than it has ever been. Not only are you competing with TikTok for kids' attention, but you also now have children who feel emboldened to blatantly ignore you, and in some cases, get aggressive with you (verbally and physically). In short, teachers get no respect these days. Students walk all over you, and parents demand results without holding their own children accountable. I’m not shocked that teachers are quitting in droves. So yes, teachers should be paid more. I understand there are certain hazards in being a firefighter or police officer, but there is no reason why a teacher should not make the same amount as these other government employees. In some ways, teachers provide a more important service to society. John Ross President & CEO at Test Prep Insight

Keep in mind that fights can happen inside or outside the classroom.

As a teacher, it is your job to help make sure these don’t happen and to stop them if they break out. For example, if two students are fighting in the middle of your hallway, be prepared to call security and break it up as best you can. In some cases, anger may be directed at you, and you might have to dodge a chair or some school supplies.

Also read : Why Some Teachers Still Love Their Jobs Despite Difficult Working Conditions and Low Salaries .

Another danger to consider is school shootings . As a teacher, you are signing up to protect your students in the case of a shooter. Some teachers are asked to risk their lives for their students and teach everyone how to act in that scenario.

3. Raising Teacher Salaries Is a Form of Recognition and Can Improve Educational Outcomes

Connor Ondriska, CEO of SpanishVIP, told us that teachers deserve a pay raise and that well-paid teachers have better educational outcomes:

Teachers dedicate their time and energy to creating engaging lesson plans, addressing individual student needs, and fostering a positive learning environment. Increasing their salaries acknowledges the immense effort they put into their work and demonstrates that society values their contributions. Competitive salaries for teachers can lead to improved educational outcomes. When teachers feel financially supported, they are more likely to stay in the profession and bring their best to the classroom. Higher pay can also attract highly qualified individuals to pursue teaching as a career, bringing fresh perspectives and expertise to the education system. Connor Ondriska Co-Founder and CEO at SpanishVIP

Also Read : Why Teachers Are so Important in Our Society .

Tip : 16,415 Teacher Jobs Are Available on Salarship .

4. Some Teachers Need Second Jobs to Pay the Bills

Teachers don’t make enough to support a family alone.

Oftentimes, a spouse needs to be working a full-time job to help make ends meet. In the worst-case scenario, teachers will have to work a second job.

Another problem is that some school districts do not have a 12-month pay structure. This means that teachers are paid only for ten months a year. Teachers who don’t get paid during the summer vacation and a summer job is often the only way to make ends meet .

5. They Oversee After-School Activities

Teachers can often be found at the school a couple of hours after the school day has ended.

They can be found grading papers, attending meetings, doing lesson plans, tutoring students, and leading extracurricular activities. However, teachers typically don’t get paid during this time.

Sports programs and the arts often have teachers staying after school late into the evening. When they’re doing rehearsals or coaching games, this takes a lot of unpaid time and energy. This can be an extra 2-5+ hours spent after school, and they might only get paid for half (or less) of it.

It is very important to note that almost all after-school activities are for the students. These supervising teachers are working extra hours to help them succeed in their classes or to participate in activities that they enjoy.

6. Not Enough Hours in a Day to Finish the Work

Go ahead and ask your teacher what they do during their lunch period.

They’ll tell you that sometimes they are helping students or letting them redo tests. Other times, they are catching up on grading or preparing for their next class. The point is that eating is sometimes their last priority. Why do they use their lunchtime to do everything but eat?

They get paid for a set number of hours during the day, most of which is taken up with teaching. But they still have papers to grade, classes to plan, PowerPoint to make, etc.

If they are going to teach, they must be prepared, and that often takes up time during lunch or after school.

7. Teachers May Teach Extra Classes

Teachers often can’t just do one thing, either.

For instance, a teacher who majored in Music Education and taught a class about orchestra might also have to teach a computer class.

People who study English Education now might take classes to help special education students (SPED) because they may have been assigned to a couple of SPED classes.

There aren’t enough teachers, and some schools will turn a teacher’s planning period into another class for them to teach. Unfortunately, teachers often have to pay for extra courses they take to be prepared to teach new topics or SPED students. They should get paid for those extra hours spent preparing to teach new classes.

8. They Are Not Paid for Work Done at Home

Most people work their nine-to-five jobs and then get to go home, relax, work on home projects, spend time with their families, etc.

As a teacher, this isn’t always the case. Teachers often bring their work home with them. They’ll finish grading papers or work on lesson plans for the next couple of days. This cuts into time they could relax or spend time with their family.

Teachers often talk about spending their weekends catching up on grading as well. Some of these teachers already spend time after school grading papers, only to get home and do more work without pay.

They deserve to get at least paid for those extra hours spent at school working on assignments.

9. Communities Cause Pay Disparity

The school is typically funded by the community and local government. In some cases, the federal government will step in to help a bit more.

However, depending on the community you live in, you might get paid more or less. Poorer communities often have teachers who are paid less and have little funding for after-school activities or school supplies.

One student shares her experience: “I lived in two different communities in high school. One was lower-middle-class, with some lower-class and homeless classmates. The school was small and didn’t have supplies for certain projects. The other was an upper-middle-class community, and I was shocked to see the almost new-looking classrooms, freshly bought music and scripts, and a renovation of the cafeteria to make it more modern.”

She explained that, despite the differences in both environments, teachers did the same amount of work and put in the same amount of effort for the students. In the lower-middle-class environment, teachers paid for their supplies with their own money. In the upper-middle-class environment, the school paid for the supplies, and the teachers were paid more.

10. Teachers Can Also Be Caregivers

Teachers do more than just teach, prepare, grade, etc.

In some cases, they are the second set of parents to children or a role model for those who are missing one in their lives. Great teachers are ones that students can trust and talk to when they need help. They aren’t stealing the parental role, but they are helping as another parent or filling in if necessary.

Another student explained that he had one teacher who would sometimes take time just to talk with students. The class would be spent going over what the class as a whole needed to improve on or just teaching some other life lessons. This teacher would often allow students to talk with him about issues in their lives so he could offer advice. He and some other teachers inspired this student to become a person who cares about education and other people.

11. Teachers Pay out of Pocket for Supplies

It is not uncommon for theatre teachers to spend an extra $100 or more on plays with their own money when their schools can’t provide it. Elementary teachers create school supply shopping lists for their students to make sure there are enough supplies for everyone.

Teacher shopping lists are the new way for teachers to get classroom supplies because the school can’t pay for them. Some teachers have to replace supplies mid-year with their own money.

Teachers should be paid more, or at the very least, they should not have to worry about paying for extra supplies with their own funds.

12. Teachers Must Master Technology

Many students hate when their school switches between learning apps. It can be so confusing for students to have to learn something new once they get a hang of the old system. But teachers have to deal with that switch within days. They must learn it quickly and use it effectively because it will be the basis for their classroom.

Teachers deserve so much more for all the extra effort they put in.

The Bottom Line

The teaching profession is complicated, and teacher pay should reflect those difficulties.

School districts should follow the examples of universities and colleges. The retention of teaching talents is greater in the higher education system.

If we do not support public education, this could lead to a teacher shortage and poor student performance. Many public school teachers suffer from financial anxiety. We must advocate for higher pay for teachers and better education for our children.

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Why Should Teachers Be Paid More?

Written by Dan

Last updated February 13, 2024

As teachers, we know how challenging it can be to educate children – from finding ways to make lessons engaging and informative, devising creative projects and exercises encouraging students’ participation in class, or dealing with difficult parents or administrative expectations. It’s no wonder why more than 75% of teachers report feeling stressed daily!

But for all the hard work they put into providing value for their students, why are teachers still not getting paid what they rightly deserve? In this blog post, we will explore this question further – uncovering why teachers should receive higher wages for their time and efforts.

Get ready for some eye-opening insight into something you already recognise as accurate – but now strengthen your argument with data!

Related : For more, check out our article on  how many hours should teachers work  here.

Table of Contents

Reasons Why Teachers Deserve Higher Pay

Extra hours spent working outside of class.

Teachers often spend much time outside the classroom grading papers, preparing lessons, and providing extra help to students.

This unpaid overtime work is rarely acknowledged or compensated, yet it significantly contributes to the success of its students. Therefore, these additional hours justify higher pay for teachers.

Increased Stress and Responsibility

The teaching profession comes with a high-stress level due to the immense responsibility of shaping young minds. Teachers are responsible for their student’s academic growth, social development, and, often, emotional well-being.

The constant pressure to meet these demands can lead to burnout. Higher salaries could help compensate for teachers’ increased stress and daily responsibility.

The Difficulty of Meeting Educational Standards

Meeting educational standards is challenging and requires teachers to update their teaching methods and curriculum constantly. They must ensure their students memorise facts, genuinely understand the material, and develop critical thinking skills.

This effort to meet and often exceed educational standards is another reason teachers deserve higher pay.

How Higher Salaries Would Benefit Teachers

Greater job security & satisfaction.

Higher salaries would not only provide teachers with more excellent financial stability but also lead to increased job satisfaction. Teachers feeling valued and fairly compensated can boost their morale and motivation.

This can result in a more positive learning environment for students and lower turnover rates among educators, leading to more excellent continuity and consistency within the school system.

Ability to Afford Necessary School Supplies

Often, teachers find themselves paying out-of-pocket for classroom supplies to enhance their lessons or cater to the individual needs of their students. Teachers would be better equipped to afford these necessary school supplies with higher salaries without sacrificing their financial well-being.

This could benefit students by providing more resources and materials to support their learning.

How Higher Salaries Would Benefit Students

Improved teacher morale & performance.

Higher salaries can lead to improved teacher morale and performance. When teachers feel that their work and efforts are adequately compensated, it motivates them to perform better.

This could translate into more innovative teaching methods, personalised student attention, and a more significant commitment to student success.

A More Engaging Learning Environment

With higher pay, teachers may have more resources to create a more engaging learning environment. They could afford better classroom materials and supplies, invest in professional development to learn new teaching strategies, and even have the means to integrate more technology into their lessons.

All these factors can contribute to a more stimulating and practical student learning experience.

Ways to Increase Pay for Educators

Higher tax revenues.

Increasing tax revenues can be a viable solution to enhance educators’ salaries. Governments could consider revising tax policies to allocate more funds towards education.

This could involve increasing taxes or implementing new ones and dedicating some of these revenues towards improving teacher pay. However, this approach would require careful planning and public support, as it could impact other areas of public funding.

Private Donations from Businesses and individuals

Private donations from businesses and individuals can also significantly increase teachers’ salaries. Companies and wealthy individuals who value education could donate funds dedicated explicitly to boosting teacher pay. These private donations could go directly to schools or be funded through non-profit organisations supporting educational initiatives.

In addition to providing financial resources, such partnerships between schools and businesses could also offer opportunities for mentorship and real-world learning experiences for students.

Steps We Can Take To Support Our Teachers Today

Write letters of appreciation to educators in your community.

One of the simplest yet most impactful ways to support our teachers is by expressing our gratitude for their hard work. Writing letters of appreciation to the educators in our community can provide an emotional boost and remind them of their positive impact.

These heartfelt messages can go a long way in validating their efforts and inspiring them to continue their vital work.

Volunteer in Your Local Schools

Volunteering in local schools is another practical way to support teachers. This could involve assisting with classroom activities, helping with school events, or even offering expertise in a particular subject area.

By donating your time and energy, you can help reduce teachers’ workload and contribute to a more enriching learning environment for students.

Initiate Fundraising Events for School Supplies and Other Resources

Organising fundraising events can also be a significant way to support teachers. The funds raised can purchase much-needed school supplies, fund field trips, or provide additional resources to enhance students’ learning experiences.

Not only does this financial contribution directly benefit teachers and students, but it also fosters a sense of community and demonstrates a collective commitment to supporting education.

Increasing teacher salaries has far-reaching benefits that extend beyond the educators themselves. It contributes to greater job satisfaction, improved performance, and a more engaging learning environment for students.

Achieving this requires concerted efforts from various stakeholders, including government agencies, private entities, and the community. As individuals, we can also play an essential role in supporting our teachers by expressing our appreciation, volunteering our time, and fundraising for resources.

Investing in our educators ultimately invests in our children’s and society’s future.

What is a teacher pay scale?

A teacher pay scale is a structured system that determines how much teachers earn based on various factors. These include years of experience, level of education, geographical location, and additional qualifications or responsibilities.

How does experience affect a teacher’s salary?

In most pay scale systems, teachers with more years of experience generally earn higher salaries. This rewards their dedication and the expertise they’ve gained over time.

Do teachers with advanced degrees earn more?

Yes, in many cases, teachers who have pursued further education, such as master’s or doctoral degrees, often receive higher pay. This recognises the additional knowledge and skills they bring to their teaching role.

Does location impact a teacher’s salary?

Absolutely. The cost of living varies widely from region to region, and this is often reflected in teacher pay scales. Teachers in urban or high-cost areas often earn more than those in rural or lower-cost regions.

Can a teacher increase their pay within the same pay scale?

Many pay scales allow teachers to increase their pay without changing their pay grade. This could be through taking on additional responsibilities, achieving specific performance benchmarks, or continuing professional development.

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About The Author

I'm Dan Higgins, one of the faces behind The Teaching Couple. With 15 years in the education sector and a decade as a teacher, I've witnessed the highs and lows of school life. Over the years, my passion for supporting fellow teachers and making school more bearable has grown. The Teaching Couple is my platform to share strategies, tips, and insights from my journey. Together, we can shape a better school experience for all.

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The American Teacher’s Plight: Underappreciated, Underpaid and Overworked

We are honoring each of the Top 10 winners of our Student Editorial Contest by publishing their essays. This one is by Angela Mao, age 17, and Ariane Lee, age 17.

By The Learning Network

This essay, by Angela Mao , age 17, and Ariane Lee , age 17, from Syosset High School in Syosset, N.Y., is one of the Top 10 winners of The Learning Network’s Eighth Annual Student Editorial Contest , for which we received 11,202 entries.

You can find the work of all the winners and runners-up here .

I had perfected my routine: wake up, turn on my computer, log into Zoom and turn off my camera for a long day of virtual classes. That is, until I noticed that I wasn’t the only one with my camera off. My heart sank at the sight of my teacher trying to interact with a screen full of black boxes with barely any response, despite his repeated attempts to elicit conversation.

Too engrossed in our own issues, students are oblivious to the plight our teachers have experienced during the pandemic, much less the countless struggles teachers have faced over the past few decades. Teaching in America has become a thankless profession; teachers are unappreciated, underpaid and overworked. But how did we get here?

Before the 1800s, teaching positions were largely held by men, until socio-economic shifts facilitated the entrance of women into the work force. As teaching was one of the few jobs that fit within the feminine ideal, women increasingly took on teaching roles. The feminization of this occupation correlated with a decrease in respect for teaching and in teachers’ wages as schools paid women less for their work. This perception of teaching has persisted: The New York Times finds that today, “jobs dominated by women pay less on average than those with higher proportions of men” and “enjoy less prestige.” Funding for K-12 education has also suffered, as the Center for American Progress found that the “states with the steepest funding declines have seen one-fifth of state education funding vanish.”

As a result, teaching is becoming unsustainable. Teacher salaries simply aren’t enough, as stagnant wages over the last 20 years have forced many teachers to take on extra work to supplement what should be a full-time job.

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Why Teachers Deserve Higher Pay

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Published: Aug 31, 2023

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Better Pay Would Keep Teachers From Quitting. But There’s More to It

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Even for teachers, money talks.

A new survey from the EdWeek Research Center finds that, given a choice of different ways to increase compensation, teachers say the prospect of salary increases that keep up with inflation are more likely to keep them in the classroom than other financial perks—including more generous family leave policies.

Meanwhile, one-off bonuses don’t seem to be much of a draw at all, unless districts are really prepared to shell out for them.

In all, the survey results speak to the complicated financial calculus district leaders make in investing money in ways to hang on to teaching staff. The most effective strategies are also the most expensive ones, long term.

“It’s a question of magnitude, and what motivates people,” said David Rosenberg, a partner at Education Resource Strategies, a nonprofit consulting firm that advises districts on how to spend their money effectively. “$1,000 is nice, but it reinforces the idea that small amounts are the units of compensation for teachers. They need to feel like they are much more respected—and that districts are willing to do more for them with the money that’s there.”

Finances are only one part of the retention piece, though, he and other experts noted: Teachers want to work in mission-driven places where they enjoy collaborative relationships with peers and support from their principals.

Let’s take a look at the results and see how they fit in.

It’s important to keep in mind that while it’s common to talk about a “national” teacher shortage, shortages actually tend to be highly localized and regional. They reflect how local markets work, the tendency of teachers to work fairly close to where they grew up, and also how competition for talent differs by subject and grade level.

The data are based on a nationally representative sample of 564 teachers. The EdWeek Research Center surveyed them from June 29 to July 18 as part of a regular series of polls tracking the pandemic’s effects on schools.

There weren’t many significant differences in the responses when we broke the data out by teachers’ geographical location or grade levels, but a few are noted below.

Teachers prefer base salary increases

Teachers say the financial strategy that would most encourage them to stay is to offer increases that exceed the cost of living; at 6 in 10 teachers responding, it was the most popular option. (Right behind it were salary increases that keep pace with the cost of living.)

This is in one sense not a terribly surprising finding: Salary increases would make an immediate difference in teachers’ lives; they, along with U.S. consumers as a whole, are dealing with record inflation and higher gas prices connected to pandemic-related supply chain problems and disruption in fuel markets caused by the war in Ukraine.

But it also shows that teachers are financially and politically sophisticated, noted Thomas Dee, a professor at Stanford University’s school of education who studies teacher compensation and incentives.

“It doesn’t take too many years for a salary increase to work out to be financially better than a bonus,” he said. “It was striking to me that they privileged these, and it suggests they understand those kind of lifetime benefit issues.”

No matter how well earned, raises like these are typically an expensive proposition for district leaders.

“If we do those things with the level of funding we have in schools, we can’t do the extra supports, the personalization, the mental-health supports we need to do to respond to the COVID effects,” said Karen Hawley Miles, the president and CEO of ERS.

Some districts have tried to target increases for certain teachers or subjects, rather than offering across-the-board ones; the survey doesn’t ask how teachers feel about them. Historically, they can be politically tricky to pull off because the ethos of teaching is often concerned with fairness and fair treatment. Still, some districts have managed to raise salaries in different ways— targeting new hires , for example, during those tough first few years on the job .

Retirement and health compensation are a priority

Nearly 4 in 10 teachers said that an increase in their pension or defined-benefit retirement plan would persuade them to stay. This could reflect a desire for security in the wake of the pandemic—and concern about the dive many retirement accounts took earlier this year when financial markets slumped, the ERS strategists said.

Retirement benefits are a tricky area for district leaders. With the exception of only a few school districts that have their own pension plans, most of the rules about retirements are set by state legislators and pension boards, not directly by district leaders. Districts can do things like picking up part of the share that teachers are required to pay into the pension system, but pensions already make up a growing part of district budgets, particularly for debt servicing on the plans.

On the other hand, districts do control more aspects of health costs—particularly the proportion teachers pay for insurance versus what they pick up. This is often a major factor in collective bargaining negotiations.

Housing and paid leave—even maternity or paternity leave—were far less popular responses, despite skyrocketing housing costs nationwide and increased awareness about the family-care challenges that crop up in the women-dominated teaching profession .

Notably, teachers in urban settings were much more likely to say that paternity or maternity leave would make them more likely to stay, at 17 percent, than those working in rural or suburban districts, at 6 percent and 8 percent, respectively. And curiously, elementary and high school teachers also put this financial perk much higher than middle school teachers.

Bonuses—unless they’re substantial—don’t seem to do much

The survey found that bonuses paled next to the other, more substantial forms of compensation. In fact, just 5 percent of teachers said that bonuses less than $2,000 would be apt to keep them in the profession.

About a quarter said larger bonuses, of $5,000-$10,000, could encourage them to stay.

It’s a trend that worries Hawley Miles of ERS. Many districts are prioritizing lower bonuses. She favors larger bonuses that can be strategically coupled with efforts to create career pathways for teachers where they could share their expertise with colleagues and improve working conditions for all.

“We have districts all over the place doing this right now, using their [federal COVID relief] funds to do these [smaller bonuses], so I think it’s really interesting to contrast that with larger ones,” she said. “You can call them bonuses. Or you could call them stipends for different roles, for teachers who take on more roles with responsibilities and leadership.”

Working conditions also matter

The limited nature of the survey means these findings don’t get into a key question: What is the value of money compared to other kinds of benefits—like working in a collegial environment with supportive administrators?

A minority of teachers, 7 percent, said that no financial policy would make a difference because their reasons for wanting to leave didn’t hinge on that issue. (Consider, for example, that a recent Khan Academy study found that factors like student behavior and a lack of mental health supports have made the job of catching students up post-pandemic more difficult.)

And decades of research show the connection between retention and good working conditions, such as a positive school culture, respect, and a strong principal. An improved salary might keep teachers in the classrooms for a little while longer—but it’s not the only thing teachers look for.

It all points to the need to get a better handle on the multitude of factors. Some districts are now conducting “stay interviews” to get at this question, and past research has suggested that one simple thing principals can do is to ask their best teachers: What would keep you in the classroom?

Data analysis for this article was provided by the EdWeek Research Center. Learn more about the center’s work.

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Teacher pay rises in 2023—but not enough to shrink pay gap with other college graduates

By Sylvia Allegretto • September 12, 2024

• Print: Overview • Report

Key findings

The pay penalty for teachers—the regression-adjusted gap between the weekly wages of teachers and college graduates working in other professions—grew to a record 26.6% in 2023, a significant increase from 6.1% in 1996.

On average, teachers earned 73.4 cents for every dollar relative to the earnings of similar other professionals in 2023. This is much less than the 93.9 cents on the dollar they made in 1996.

Although teachers typically receive better benefits packages than other professionals do, this “benefits advantage” is not sufficiently large to offset the growing wage penalty for teachers.

The relative teacher weekly wage penalty exceeded 20% in 36 states—the largest was in Colorado at 38.4% and the smallest was in Wyoming at 9.0%.

Teacher quality is the most important school-related factor influencing student achievement. Closing the growing pay gap between teachers and other college graduate professionals is critical to public education.

Meaningfully boosting teacher pay requires targeted policy action by local and state governments, with support from the federal government, to improve funding for schools. Additionally, public-sector collective bargaining should be expanded, given the role of unions in advocating for improved job quality and a better pay.

Charting the problem

Full Report

T his report provides an update to a series that has tracked public school teacher wages and compensation over the last two decades. 1 Because public school teachers must attain at least a bachelor’s degree to teach in the U.S., this research compares the pay of public school teachers with that of college graduates who work in other professions. Documenting the widening divergence between the wages of teachers and their college-educated counterparts over time allows for a historical analysis of an issue that is critical to the future of the United States. Providing teachers with compensation commensurate with that of similarly educated and experienced professionals is necessary to retain and attract qualified workers into the teaching profession.

Data and relevant information

In analyzing differences in pay between public school teachers and other college graduates, I use two sources of data, both from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). 2 First, I use Current Population Survey Outgoing Rotation Groups (CPS-ORG) data for the weekly wage analyses (BLS 2024a). I focus on weekly wages, as opposed to weekly hours worked or the length of the work year, to account for the “summers off” issue that affects teachers but not other college graduates. 3 The sample is restricted to full-time workers (working at least 35 hours per week) aged between 18 and 64, with at least a bachelor’s degree, because teachers today need at least a bachelor’s degree to teach. The sample is further limited to those who reported their wage information directly (those who didn’t respond and whose wages were estimated by BLS are excluded). 4 To preserve data confidentiality, the BLS records weekly wages only up to a defined threshold, so the wage amounts above this threshold aren’t specifically identifiable in the data. This is called top-coding. The threshold, however, is rarely undated. As a result, a growing share of workers are assigned top-coded wages that are below their actual wages, which has generated a growing understatement of college graduate wages relative to those of teachers. EPI replaces original top-coded values with Pareto-distribution implied means above the CPS top-code for men and women. 5

I use a second data source to assess benefits: the BLS National Compensation Survey’s Employer Costs for Employee Compensation series (ECEC 2024a). Specifically, I pull data on employer costs per hour worked for detailed categories of compensation for “primary, secondary, and special education school teachers” in the public sector, and the same data for “civilian professionals,” which is the broadest category available that largely corresponds to college graduates. “Benefits,” in my analysis, refer to employer costs for health and life insurance, retirement plans, and payroll taxes (covering Social Security, unemployment insurance, and workers’ compensation).

The remaining components of compensation are “W-2 wages,” a measure that corresponds to the wages captured in the CPS data used above. W-2 wages are the wages reported to employees and to the Internal Revenue Service. They include “direct wages”—defined by the BLS as “regular payments from the employer to the employee as compensation for straight-time hourly work, or for any salaried work performed”—and other wage items, including “supplemental pay.” Supplemental pay includes premium pay for overtime, bonus pay, profit-sharing, and paid leave.

I present the results of my research in four sections. I first show the trends in the simple (not regression-adjusted) average weekly wages for public school teachers and other college graduates from 1979 through 2022 (adjusted for inflation). Second, I report annual estimates of the national teacher weekly wage gap using standard regression techniques to control for systematic differences in age, education, state of residence, and other factors known to affect wage rates. Third, I present regression-adjusted estimates of the teacher wage gap for each state and the District of Columbia. Lastly, nonwage benefits are factored in to estimate a total compensation penalty that accounts for the estimated teacher wage penalty, along with the teacher “benefits advantage,” to estimate a total compensation differential at the national level (which is not possible to calculate for each state).

Simple level differences: weekly wage trends

I start by showing the level of average weekly wages of public school teachers and other college graduates in Figure A. These data are national annual averages adjusted only for inflation (i.e., not regression-adjusted). For there to be real improvements in living standards for teachers, nominal increases in pay would need to exceed the rate of inflation—in other words, the inflation-adjusted trends in Figure A would have to be increasing.

Average weekly wages of public school teachers and other college graduates, 1979–2023

The data below can be saved or copied directly into Excel.

The data underlying the figure.

Notes: Figure shows average weekly wages (2023$) of public school teachers (elementary, middle, and secondary) and other college graduate (nonteacher) peers. Data points for 1994 and 1995 are unavailable; dotted lines represent interpolated data. See Allegretto and Mishel 2019 , Appendix A, for more details on data and methodology.

Source: Author’s analysis of Current Population Survey Outgoing Rotation Group data accessed via the EPI Current Population Survey Extracts, Version 1.0.53 (EPI 2024a), https://microdata.epi.org .

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As shown in Figure A, inflation-adjusted teacher wages were relatively flat from 1996 through 2021, indicating that teacher wages, on average, were just keeping up with the rate of inflation. This was also the case for the wages of other college graduates but for a shorter time span (2002–2014), after which real increases ensued.

Figure A shows that there was a small increase in teachers weekly wages of 1.7% ($24.00) in 2023, but it was nowhere near enough to undo the 8.8% decline that occurred in 2022—leaving the series near its post-1996 low point. From 1996 through 2023, teacher wages fell by 5.1%, mostly due to the steep decline in teacher weekly wages in 2022. Conversely, the wages of other college graduates increased 30.0% over that timeframe; their wages increased significantly from 2014 onwards and experienced a slight decline in 2022. 

Addressing the long-term stagnation of teacher wages requires that future increases in pay exceed future rates of inflation to recover the big loss in wages that occurred in 2022. Local and state politicians, community leaders, and the public can help by highlighting the severity of the issue in their communities. Meaningfully boosting teacher pay requires a concerted effort by local and state governments—with support from the federal government—to pass the right policies.

Relative differences: regression-adjusted trends

The weekly wages discussed above are simple averages (not regression-adjusted) for teachers and other college graduates. However, the two groups may differ fundamentally in ways that typically affect pay on margins—such as age, educational attainment, race/ethnicity, and state of residence. For instance, all else being equal, one would expect experienced workers to earn more than younger workers who are just starting out in their careers. Controlling for age within a regression model therefore accounts for such differences across the two samples. Thus, I use standard regression techniques to estimate weekly wages of public school teachers relative to other similarly situated college graduates working in other professions, which can provide a more apples-to-apples comparison of earnings. 6 I report regression-adjusted estimates for all teachers (which includes a gender control), as well as separately for women and men. 

Results presented in Figure B show how much less (or more) teachers earn in weekly wages relative to other college graduates, estimated via regression analysis. A weekly wage “penalty” for teachers is reported when the regression estimates suggest that teachers, all else equal, are paid less than other college graduates. A penalty appears as a negative number in Figure B. When teachers are paid relatively more, the number is positive and is referred to as a “premium.”

Teachers earn 26.6% less than comparable college graduates : Public school teacher weekly wage penalty (or premium) for all teachers and by gender, 1979–2023

Notes: Figure shows regression-adjusted weekly wage penalties (or premiums) for public school teachers (elementary, middle, and secondary) relative to their college-educated, nonteaching peers. Data points for 1994 and 1995 are unavailable; dotted lines represent interpolated data. See  Allegretto and Mishel 2019 , Appendix A, for more details on data and methodology.

Figure reports regression-adjusted teacher weekly wage penalties: how much less, in percentage terms, public school teachers (elementary, middle, and secondary) earn in weekly wages relative to their college-educated, nonteaching peers. College-educated workers refers to workers who have a bachelor’s degree or more education. The dependent variable is (log) weekly wages with indicator controls on public school teacher, private school teacher, gender, and married, along with indicator sets on education (M.A., professional degree, Ph.D.) and race/ethnicity (Black, Hispanic, other); also included are age as a quartic and state fixed effects. See Allegretto and Mishel 2019 , Appendix A, for more details on data and methodology.

Starting in 1979 and throughout this series, relative weekly wages for all teachers have lagged behind those of other similarly qualified professionals (middle line Figure B). Pre-1994, the teacher wage gap averaged 8.7%, but the shortfall worsened considerably starting in the mid-1990s. The teaching penalty hit a record of 26.6% in 2023, which was slightly worse than the penalty recorded in 2022 (26.4%). Otherwise, on average, teachers earned 73.4 cents on the dollar in 2023, compared with what similar college graduates earned working in other professions—much less than the relative 93.9 cents on the dollar that teachers earned in 1996.

As shown in Figure B, the relative female teacher wage, compared with other female professionals, was at a premium that averaged 3.3% in the pre-1994 period. But starting in 1996, the female wage gap quickly went from parity to a penalty, landing at a 21.4% penalty in 2023, slightly worse than the 21.3% gap estimated in 2022.

My previous research (using decennial Census data) confirmed that, over a longer timeframe, the relative wage estimates for female teachers moved from significant premiums to large penalties. For example, I documented that relative female teacher earnings were at a 14.7% premium in 1960, which lessened to 10.4% in 1970 and to near parity in 1980 (pre-1979 years not shown in Figure B). Using the estimates from 2023, the cumulative change has been a 36.1 percentage-point deterioration in the relative wage of female teachers since 1960. 7

There is an important story behind the declining relative wages of female teachers. Historically, the teaching profession relied on a somewhat captive labor pool of educated women who had few employment opportunities. This is thankfully no longer the case, but increased opportunity costs are a part of the story and reflected in much of this research. Expanding opportunities enabled women to earn more as they entered occupations and professions from which they were once barred. Today, a much smaller share of educated women chooses the teaching profession over expanding opportunities with better pay. Simply maintaining the quality of the current labor market pool for teachers will require significant raises in real teachers’ pay to compete with other professions for female workers. Otherwise, the quality of education will be compromised.

The relative wages of male teachers have seen sizable penalties throughout the timeframe of this paper (1979–2023) and my analyses using 1960, 1970, and 1980 decennial Census data. Over the long run, the male penalty worsened from 20.5% in 1960 (not shown in Figure B) to 36.3% in 2023. The very large male teaching penalty that persists today goes a long way in explaining why men who may want to teach may be compelled to choose other career paths, which are on average much more lucrative. The large male teacher penalty partly explains why approximately three in four teachers are women—a ratio that has not changed much since 1960.

Relative teacher weekly wage penalties by state

I have reported that the overall teacher weekly wage penalty was 26.6% in 2023. But there is much variation across states. To produce regression estimates by state, I pool six years (2018–2023) of CPS data to assure ample sample sizes for each state. Again, I compare public school teachers with nonteacher college graduates within each state and estimate regression-adjusted weekly wage gaps for each state and the District of Columbia.

Teacher weekly wage penalty exceeds 20% in 36 states : Regression-adjusted estimates by state, pooled CPS data for 2018–2023

Notes: Figure shows state-specific regression-adjusted weekly wage penalties for public school teachers (elementary, middle, and secondary) relative to their college-educated, nonteaching peers. See  Allegretto and Mishel 2019 , Appendix A, for more details on data and methodology.

Figure reports state-specific regression-adjusted teacher weekly wage penalties: how much less, in percentage terms, public school teachers (elementary, middle, and secondary) earn in weekly wages relative to their college-educated, nonteaching peers. College-educated workers refers to workers who have a bachelor’s degree or more education. The dependent variable is (log) weekly wages with indicator controls on public school teacher, public school teacher interacted with each state (relevant estimate), private school teacher, gender, and married, along with indicator sets on education (M.A., professional degree, Ph.D.) and race/ethnicity (Black, Hispanic, other); also included are age as a quartic, state fixed effects. See Allegretto and Mishel 2019 , Appendix A, for more details on data and methodology.

Source: Author’s analysis of pooled 2018-2023 Current Population Survey Outgoing Rotation Group data accessed via the EPI Current Population Survey Extracts, Version Version 1.0.53 (EPI 2024a), https://microdata.epi.org .

As in previous reports, Figure C shows that in no state does the relative (regression-adjusted) weekly wage for teachers equal or surpass that of their nonteaching college graduate counterparts. The bars are sorted from the largest (38.4%) to the smallest (9.0%) penalties across the US.

There are seven states where teachers, on average, earn less than 70 cents on the dollar compared with similar college graduates in their respective states. The states with the largest penalties are Colorado (38.4%), Arizona (32.9%), Virginia (32.0%), Oklahoma (31.8%), New Hampshire (31.6%), Minnesota (31.0%), and Alabama (31.0%). Unsurprisingly, the first four states listed had huge walkouts in response to low pay and public education funding in 2018–2019. 8

Figure D  is a map presentation of the state penalties reported in Figure C.

How big is the teaching penalty in your state? : Teachers make between 9.0% and 38.4% less than other comparable college-educated workers across the country

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Figure reports state-specific regression-adjusted teacher weekly wage penalties: how much less, in percentage terms, public school teachers (elementary, middle, and secondary) earn in weekly wages relative to their college-educated, nonteaching peers. College-educated workers refers to workers who have a bachelor’s degree or more education. The dependent variable is (log) weekly wages with indicator controls on public school teacher, public school teacher interacted with each state (relevant estimate), private school teacher, gender, and married, along with indicator sets on education (M.A., professional degree, Ph.D.) and race/ethnicity (Black, Hispanic, other); also included are age as a quartic, state fixed effects. See  Allegretto and Mishel 2019 , Appendix A, for more details on data and methodology.

Source: Author's analysis of pooled 2018-2023 Current Population Survey Outgoing Rotation Group data accessed via the EPI Current Population Extracts, Version 1.0.53 (EPI 2024a), https://microdata.epi.org/

Adding benefits to the analysis

The weekly wages analyzed to this point make up a significant part of compensation, but to capture the total compensation of teachers and nonteaching professionals, I add in other benefits of employment, such as health and other insurance, and retirement plans. Teachers generally receive a higher share of their compensation as benefits compared with other professionals, partially offsetting the weekly wage penalty. In this section, I examine teachers’ “benefits advantage” and how it impacts relative total compensation.

The BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC) series measures the average employer cost per employee hour worked for total compensation, wages and salaries, benefits, and costs as a share of total compensation. I compare benefits packages of primary, secondary, and special education public school teachers with those of comparable workers (specifically, workers in professional occupations). 9 Table 1 shows a summary of my calculations.

The teacher compensation penalty was 16.7% in 2023 : Trends in the teacher total compensation penalty, selected years, 1979–2023

Notes: The benefits advantage is the degree to which higher benefits offset the wage penalty. See the “Computing the Benefits Advantage” section in Appendix A of Allegretto and Mishel 2019 for data and methodology details. “n.a.” indicates that data are not available. Explanations of missing data and other data issues are documented in the “Historical Data Issues” section of the 2019 appendix.

Source : Author’s analysis of Current Population Survey Outgoing Rotation Group data and Bureau of Labor Statistics Employer Costs for Employee Compensation Data. 

The first two columns in Table 1 under “W-2 wage share of compensation” report the share of W-2 wages that make up total compensation for professionals in all occupations and for state and local K–12 public school teachers. The shares of compensation for W-2 wages and benefits add up to 100. The W-2 shares allow for an examination of how important wages are relative to benefits in the total compensation package.

In 2023, W-2 wages made up 69.6% of teachers’ total compensation, whereas the share was 79.0% for nonteaching professionals. That means that for every dollar of teachers’ total compensation, 69.6 cents went to wages and 30.4 cents went to benefits. For professionals, 79.0 cents went to wages and 21.0 cents went to benefits. Therefore, for every dollar of total compensation, public school teachers receive more in benefits than other professionals. I refer to this as the “benefits advantage.” 10

The columns under “public school teachers” in Table 1 provide the information needed to assess total compensation on average for the United States. The “wage penalty” column reports the teacher wage penalty estimates from Figure B, followed by the benefits advantage calculation for teachers. Combining the two gives us a measure of how teachers compare to other professionals on total compensation, which is reported in the last column. Per usual, the benefits advantage for teachers partially offsets their estimated relative wage disadvantage, but still left teachers with a significant total compensation gap of 16.7% in 2023, which is close to the 17.0% calculated in 2022. This slight improvement was due to a 0.5 percentage point change in the teacher benefits advantage, and a 0.2 percentage point change in the wage penalty.

The benefits advantage that favors teachers has grown considerably over the timeframe of study: It went from 2.4% in 1993 to 9.9% in 2023. However, the growing benefits advantage was not nearly enough to offset the much larger growth in the teacher wage penalty that grew from 2.7% to 26.6% over the same timeframe.

Final thoughts

Are teachers sufficiently compensated in the U.S. to retain current staff and recruit a pool of highly skilled college students into the profession? Not by a long shot. The trends this series has documented over the last two decades have no doubt had profound consequences on teacher retention and recruitment. Research related to the issues presented in this report has expanded considerably and grapples with the challenges facing public education and the teaching profession in the United States. This includes research on teacher staffing challenges (Fortin and Fawcett 2023; NCES 2023); college students forgoing teaching careers citing pay as a main barrier (Croft, Guffy, and Vitale 2018); parents actively steering their children into professions that pay better than teaching (PDK 2019); fast-tracking credentials in response to shortages of permanent teachers (Povich 2023); the heavy use of unqualified teachers (Tamez-Robledo 2023; Lopez and Van Overschelde 2024); and unqualified substitute teachers (Franco and Kemper Patrick 2023).

It is hard to think of a more consequential profession than teaching. Teachers have the future of the country in front of them daily. The quality of a public education greatly hinges on our efforts to take care of the teaching workforce and sufficiently fund schools. Too often and in too many places, we are failing to attain one of our highest ideals as a nation: our promise to educate every child without regard to means. This is a question of political will, with profound implications for our children, their families and communities, and the future of our nation.

About the author

Sylvia A. Allegretto is a senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research and a research associate at the Economic Policy Institute. She worked for 15 years at the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment at the University of California, Berkeley, where she co-founded the Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics (CWED). CWED’s body of work on wage floors has been highly influential in academia and policy circles. Allegretto co-authored two editions of The State of Working America  while at EPI and continues her work on teacher compensation, public education, and labor markets. Dr. Allegretto provides frequent commentary on economic trends. She has a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

1. See  How Does Teacher Pay Compare  (Allegretto, Corcoran, and Mishel 2004);  The Teacher Penalty (Allegretto, Corcoran, and Mishel 2008); and the following issue briefs and reports in the series: Allegretto, Corcoran, and Mishel (2011); Allegretto and Tojerow (2014); Allegretto and Mishel (2016, 2018, and 2019); and Allegretto (2022 and 2023).

2. Allegretto and Mishel (2019, Appendix A ) provides a comprehensive discussion of the data and methodologies that were used to produce our teacher weekly wage and total compensation estimates. 

3. In Allegretto and Mishel (2019), we provide evidence that teachers work weekly hours similar to those of other professionals.

4. Our earlier work documents how the BLS imputation method overstates teacher earnings, which is not the case for the other college graduate sample (Allegretto, Corcoran, and Mishel 2008, 9).

5. For more about top-code adjustments, see Economic Policy Institute (2024b).

6. The wage model includes controls for both public and private school teachers. The weekly wage penalty estimates are based on the coefficient on the public school teacher indicator. Regression for all teachers includes a gender control. See Allegretto and Mishel (2019, Appendix A), for specification details.

7. See Allegretto, Corcoran, and Mishel (2008) for 1960, 1970, and 1980 estimates using decennial Census data.

8. Keep in mind that state estimates reported in this paper use pooled 2018–2023 CPS data, while the state results reported in the previous paper (Allegretto 2023) used pooled 2017–2022 CPS data. Thus, there is significant overlap of data.

9. The ECEC provides compensation data for a narrower category of “primary, secondary, and special education school teachers” and for a broader category of “teachers.” I analyze the narrower category, which closely matches the definition of teachers in the CPS-ORG data, using data limited to state and local public-sector workers. The inclusion of kindergarten and special education teachers in the benefits analysis does not produce any more substantial differences than if they were excluded (as they are in the CPS sample used to estimate the wage penalty). Greater methodological detail is provided in Appendix A of Allegretto and Mishel (2019).

10. My analysis accounts for differences in annual weeks worked, as it is based on the usual weekly wages of teachers and other college graduates, not hourly wages or annual earnings. One reason health and pension costs are higher for teachers is that teacher health benefits are provided for a full year, while teacher salaries are for less than a full year.

Allegretto, Sylvia A. 2022. The Teacher Pay Penalty Has Hit a New High . Economic Policy Institute, August 2022.

Allegretto, Sylvia A. 2023. The Teacher Pay Penalty Still Looms Large . Economic Policy Institute, September 2023.

Allegretto, Sylvia A., Sean P. Corcoran, and Lawrence Mishel. 2004.  How Does Teacher Pay Compare? Methodological Challenges and Answers . Washington, D.C.: Economic Policy Institute.

Allegretto, Sylvia A., Sean P. Corcoran, and Lawrence Mishel. 2008.  The Teaching Penalty: Teacher Pay Losing Ground . Washington, D.C.: Economic Policy Institute.

Allegretto, Sylvia A., Sean P. Corcoran, and Lawrence Mishel. 2011.  The Teaching Penalty: An Update Through 2010 . Economic Policy Institute, March 2011.

Allegretto, Sylvia A., Emma García, and Elaine Weiss. 2022.  Public Education Funding in the U.S. Needs an Overhaul: How a Larger Federal Role Would Boost Equity and Shield Children from Disinvestment During Downturns . Economic Policy Institute, July 2022.

Allegretto, Sylvia A., and Lawrence Mishel. 2016.  The Teacher Pay Gap Is Wider Than Ever: Teachers’ Pay Continues to Fall Further Behind Pay of Comparable Workers . Economic Policy Institute, August 2016.

Allegretto, Sylvia A., and Lawrence Mishel. 2018.  The Teacher Pay Penalty Has Hit a New High: Trends in the Teacher Wage and Compensation Gaps Through 2017 . Economic Policy Institute, September 2018.

Allegretto, Sylvia A., and Lawrence Mishel. 2019.  The Teacher Weekly Wage Penalty Hit 21.4 Percent in 2018, a Record High . Economic Policy Institute, April 2019.

Allegretto, Sylvia A., and Ilan Tojerow. 2014. “ Teacher Staffing and Pay Differences: Public and Private Schools .”  Monthly Labor Review  (U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics), September 2014.

Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). 2024a. Current Population Survey .

Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). 2024b. Employer Costs for Employee Compensation Historical Listing: National Compensation Survey, data tables accessed July 11, 2024.

Croft, Michelle, Gretchen Guffy, and Dan Vitale. 2018.  Encouraging More High School Students to Consider Teaching . ACT Research & Policy, June 2018.

Economic Policy Institute (EPI). 2024a. Current Population Survey Extracts, Version 1.0.53,  https://microdata.epi.org . Accessed July 1, 2024.

Economic Policy Institute (EPI). 2024b. “ Methodology: Wage Variables .”  EPI Microdata Extracts  documentation.

Fortin, Jacey, and Eliza Fawcett. 2023. “ How Bad Is the Teacher Shortage? Depends Where You Live .” New York Times , August 29, 2023.

Franco, Marguerite, and Susan Kemper Patrick. 2023. State Teacher Shortages: Teaching Positions Left Vacant or Filled by Teachers Without Full Certification . Learning Policy Institute, July 2023.

Lopez, Minda, and James P. Van Overschelde. 2024. “ Unlicensed Teachers Now Dominate New Teacher Hires in Rural Texas Schools .” The Conversation (Texas State University), May 6, 2024.

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). 2023. Most Public Schools Face Challenges in Hiring Teachers and Other Personnel Entering the 2023–24 Academic Year . October 2023.

Phi Delta Kappan (PDK). 2018. Teaching: Respect but Dwindling Appeal. The 50th Annual PDK Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools . Supplement to Kappan magazine.

Povich, Elaine S. 2023. “ Plagued By Teacher Shortages, Some States Turn to Fast-Track Credentialing .” Stateline, July 24, 2023.

Tamez-Robledo, Nadia. 2023. “ These States Have the Most ‘Underqualified’ Teachers Stepping in to Fill Open Positions .” EdSurge, April 4, 2023.

See related work on Income and wages | Education | Teacher pay | Public-sector workers

See more work by Sylvia Allegretto