Sumnick, Page 1

Saylor Sumnick

Firdevs Kurtulan

ENC 2135

February 15, 2023

Globally Revised Investigative Field Essay: Is Teacher Pay Adequate?

Teacher salary is a nationwide issue that affects educators, schools, and communities.

Over the past five decades, researchers and teachers have debated on whether teacher pay is

adequate for the profession, after much research, there is not a concrete answer on if teachers

should be paid more or not but this idea has given rise to many opinions and facts that has caused

an uproar of teacher attention. Aside from the research question of “is teacher pay adequate,”

other questions can be explored such as what defines adequate pay, what are the possible benefits

to increasing teacher pay, and what are other solutions to keeping teachers in the profession and

improving the k-12 school system; this essay will focus on these questions in order to answer our

guided question on if teacher pay is adequate or not and what the alleviating measures are. This

question focuses on k-12 public school teachers who believe their job is more valuable than what

they are receiving as compensation.

When defining the word “adequate” in terms of salary, there are multiple opinions on

how to define adequate pay. In this case, teachers have argued that adequate pay should not be

something to complain about; according to The National Center for Education Statistics, the

average salary for a k-12 public school teacher in the U.S. was $65,090, a 1.49% increase ($957)

from the year 2020. When looking at other occupations, this pay rate is similar to that of a truck

driver or an office manager. Jen Luckwaldt, author of “Why Doesn’t Society Pay Teachers What

They're Worth?” has investigated recent pay scales for teachers and believes that the value of a
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teacher's job is far more worth their salary. It is important to break down the meaning of this

word because it sets a baseline that states should aim to meet. The Huffington post conducted a

survey with teachers to determine just how comfortable a Minnesota teacher can live on their

yearly earnings, the consensus stated that teachers do not make enough to live comfortably, this

also does not consider teachers who are single parents or that are in other hard financial

situations. Missi, from The Elementary Assessment Blog constructed a post that shares her first-

hand experience as a public-school teacher and her testimony is as follows, “Yes, in general, K-

12 teachers in the U.S make enough money to live comfortably depending on how they are

accustomed to living. Other factors include standard of living, geographic location, family status,

and saving habits.” (Missi, 2022). This article also proposes other questions teachers may

consider before entering the profession, for example, private versus public school, will they get

married and have kids down the line, or is a second job necessary? All these questions tie back to

a teacher's pay and if the profession is worth all the time and energy. So, what is the definition of

adequate? Does it consist of living paycheck to paycheck, is it the ideal lifestyle, or is it just

“comfortable”?

If teacher pay was proven to be inadequate, there are multiple benefits to increasing the

average teacher salary. The upsides to increasing teacher pay is accepted as inadequate. Sam

Brill, author of “Stopping the Revolving Door; Increasing Teacher Retention” writes “teacher

attrition is likely related to salary related dissatisfaction” (Brill, 2008). This article also goes on

to defy this research question by explaining that other reasons such as work environment or

burnout are also responsible for teacher attrition. If teacher salaries were raised, teachers would

be more enticed to continue in this field of work, this would solve the issue of understaffed

public schools in the United States. Similarly, paying teachers more would result in better
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student performance in the classroom. The correlation comes from the dedication and

performance of a teacher, and how the students perform on standardized tests or state-wide

benchmarks. Author Matthew Lynch reveals, “According to one study, a 10% increase in teacher

salary would result in a 5–10% improvement in student performance.” (Lynch, 2022). The long-

term benefits of teacher remuneration also benefit students. When per-student spending is

increased by 10% for every additional 12 years of education, students graduate from college

sooner, earn 7% more, and have a reduced adult poverty rate. One of the last benefits that this

research highlights is that increasing teacher pay would strengthen the education system for

urbanized communities. Teachers who work in urban school districts make approximately

$21.43 an hour, or a mere forty-four thousand dollars a year, this is already a fraction of what

teachers make in more suburban school districts. Urbanized schools prove to have lower test

scores, overfilled classrooms, and lack of educational resources. Increasing teacher pay in these

areas would raise standardized test scores and put more teachers in understaffed schools. These

schools are unprioritized by the government and will continue to be overlooked if a change is not

implemented. There are more benefits to increasing pay than there are consequences, one of

those consequences would be that teachers who have been in the profession for decades would

have missed those benefits and would be shortchanged by thousands of dollars. The Tallahassee

Democrat states that if public school teachers were given a raise, so would other public

employees and the state unions cannot come to an agreement of what is adequate and fits the

state budget. Ultimately, the state must not only determine if teacher pay is adequate but if all

public pay is adequate.

Salary is not the only parameter retaining teachers in their occupations, and considering

the systemic reluctance to raise teacher pay, alternative measures for teachers’ retention in
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schools should be considered. Although salary is a large factor in determining a job position,

equalizing, and raising teacher pay across the nation is far from simple. There is hope to keep

teachers in the classroom and one solution is refining classroom conditions, “Approximately

25% of public-school teachers who left the profession in 2012 reported that dissatisfaction with

the influence of school assessment and accountability measures on their teaching or curriculum

was extremely or very important in their decision to leave” (Bishop, 2016). This dissatisfaction

includes lack of resources and technology, lack of staff and inadequate policies and rules.

Teacher retention depends on these factors because teachers need an adequate environment to

teach students to their fullest potential; child resources, paraprofessionals, and learning tools.

Retention also coincides with if teachers are happy with their profession, teachers may use their

voice to express their opinions and needs, but in hindsight they are not heard and do not receive

their requests. Teachers who are not satisfied with their job or school tend to lose interest in their

passion for teaching and the U.S. will continue to lose teachers every day. In summary, there are

solutions to keeping teachers in the classroom other than raising their salary, but if the U.S.

school system fails to implement these solutions, raising teacher pay will be the only ethical

answer.

After much research, the question of whether teacher pay is adequate or not remains

unanswered, but other questions have opened a new light on the issue. Adequacy is defined

differently according to each context and alternative measures can support a potential, general

discontent with payment such as giving teachers more outside supportive resources and gradually

applying small pay raises. Through this research, the term adequate has been defined in many

ways, many benefits to increasing teacher pay have been proposed and opposing solutions to it.

K-12 public school teachers are crucial to building the future of our Nation. Without adequate
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pay, student performance will decrease along with teacher retention and the overall school

system will display a decline in academic achievement.

Works Cited

Bishop, Joseph. “Solving the Teacher Shortage: How to Attract and Retain Excellent Educators.”

Learning Policy Institute, 26 Aug. 2022, learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/solving-

teacher-shortage.

Brill, Sam, and Abby McCartney. “Stopping the Revolving Door: Increasing

Teacher Retention.” Politics & Policy, vol. 36, no. 5, 2008, pp. 750–774.,

doi:10.1111/j.1747-1346.2008.00133.x.

Cotterell, Bill. “Raising Starting Teacher Salaries Is a Good Idea, but ...: Bill Cotterell.”

Tallahassee Democrat, Tallahassee Democrat, 9 Oct. 2019,

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www.tallahassee.com/story/opinion/2019/10/09/raising-starting-teacher-salaries-seems-

like-good-idea-but-has-downside/3901018002/.

"Give our Teachers Adequate Pay, not guns." University Wire, Mar 22, 2018.

ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/wire-feeds/give-our-teachers-adequate-pay-not-xa0-

guns/docview/2023924148/se-2.

Hanushek, Eric A., and Steven G. Rivkin. “Pay, Working Conditions, and

Teacher Quality.” The Future of Children, vol. 17, no. 1, 2007, pp. 69–86. JSTOR,

http://www.jstor.org/stable/4150020. Accessed 27 Jan. 2023.

Hubley Luckwaldt, Jen. “Why Doesn't Society Pay Teachers What They Are

Worth?” PayScale,

www.payscale.com/data-packages/most-and-least-meaningful-jobs/teacher-pay-versus-job-

meaning.

Lynch, Matthew. “6 Benefits to Increasing Teacher Pay.” The Edvocate, 1 Aug.

2022, www.theedadvocate.org/6-benefits-to-increasing-teacher-pay/.

Missi. “Do Teachers Make Enough Money to Live Comfortably?” Elementary

Assessments , elementaryassessments.com/do-teachers-make-enough-money-to-live-

comfortably/.

USAFacts. “Average Public School Teacher Salary.” USAFacts, usafacts.org/data/topics/people-

society/education/k-12-education/public-school-teacher-salary-average/.