Saturday, January 12, 2008

Teacher Salary Comparisons

I'm sure the supporters of merit pay/pay for test scores will say that if teachers were paid on the mythical business model of pay, that pay would be comparable.

Oklahoma earns a 'C' in Education Week report
By Susan Simpson

Oklahoma teachers earn 82 cents for every dollar earned by workers in 16 comparable occupations in the state, according to Quality Counts, an annual report by Education Week.
The report compares teaching practices, educational achievement and policies of 50 states, with Oklahoma earning an overall grade of C, the same as the national average.

The pay parity survey compared teacher pay with that of accountants, clergy, computer programmers, insurance underwriters, occupational therapists and other jobs with similar skill demands, which include knowledge, supervisory duties, complexity, physical demands and personal contacts.

Oklahoma pay was the 6th lowest in the comparison. The national average of teacher pay is 88 cents per dollar earned by other occupations.

“The importance of teachers is not adequately reflected in either their salaries or their career trajectories over time, and it is clear that states could be doing far more to address the issue,” said Christopher Swanson, director of the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center.

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