Well done. I didn't take your point to be to offer the definitive metric on teacher pay. I just thought it was an effort to introduce a few additional factors that should be taken into account and see how things shake out. If that was the goal, I found this to be useful info. Thanks!
lol the methodology sucks so hard on this. First off, why use averages instead of medians for everything? Second off, this doesn't account for the fact that an affordable house might not be anywhere near where the well-paying teaching jobs are, which are usually in more expensive areas. Finally, where does student performance slot in on all of this?
I welcome a refined analysis on a finer grain, using medians instead of means, at a county level instead of a state level, including even perhaps commute times. That was beyond the scope of my blog post, from a research perspective, but if you want to hammer one out please come back and link it.
..but you would first have to disaggregate their analysis from the economics they included, because otherwise the comparison would be polluted by comparing economics to economics. Have at it and let me know when you're finished, it sounds fascinating!
I do. He works 9 months out of the year. Sure, the first couple years were longer - because he needed to create and refine his lesson plan, but now? 5 years later? He's got it down.
Heck, I taught classes when I was in the military - the hardest part was creating a lesson plan but once you've got one of those you're good-to-go.
Like, algebra and English and PT and chemistry aren't in the middle of a scientific revolution where new knowledge is coming in fast and strong.
The one problem I have with this sort of analysis, as well as the general narrative about how poorly paid teachers are, is that they misrepresent the compensation model. On the surface we can say teachers are not nominally paid well. However, they're paid very well when you consider one other factor: time.
Once you factor in winter, spring, and summer breaks, federal/school holidays, and weather related days off, public school teachers generally work about nine months a year. There are not too many jobs where people get that much time off, especially at the entry level..
Teaching isn't entry level, it requires a pretty grueling higher Ed certificate in most places. There's a lot of time off on the surface, but when public school teachers are working, it's frequently 60 hour weeks. The only teachers I've met who are able to only work during their 7.5 contracted hours are veteran teachers who have 10+ years of experience and prep work backlogged. Summer break is only about 1.5-2 months for teachers because of continuing education / professional development / classroom and school prep / yada. Due to current conditions of teacher/sub shortage, it's nearly impossible to take time off during the school year without screwing your coworkers/students so you lose flexibility. There's a lot of time off built in but there's also a lot of hidden costs and inflexibilities -- I'm extremely close to getting my cert and my master's in teaching, and the extra time off doesn't really look like a good tradeoff to me having been on the inside (WA for context), especially looking at the insane requirements and expectations teachers can be held to -- it's an extremely stressful job with absurd responsibilities (like having a relationship with 180 sets of parents) and the most absurd aspects are only getting worse. There's a reason teacher burnout is about 3 years.
We're all working 60 hour weeks. The higher ed certificates are a waste of effort below the HS Junior level/AP classes. Tons of professions have continuing education requirements - but they don't get a three month break to work on them. None of the rest of us can take time off either - this is normal in industry.
And it doesn't take 10 years to refine an teaching plan.
Well done. I didn't take your point to be to offer the definitive metric on teacher pay. I just thought it was an effort to introduce a few additional factors that should be taken into account and see how things shake out. If that was the goal, I found this to be useful info. Thanks!
lol the methodology sucks so hard on this. First off, why use averages instead of medians for everything? Second off, this doesn't account for the fact that an affordable house might not be anywhere near where the well-paying teaching jobs are, which are usually in more expensive areas. Finally, where does student performance slot in on all of this?
I welcome a refined analysis on a finer grain, using medians instead of means, at a county level instead of a state level, including even perhaps commute times. That was beyond the scope of my blog post, from a research perspective, but if you want to hammer one out please come back and link it.
You could get teacher satisfaction from here:
https://wallethub.com/edu/best-and-worst-states-for-teachers/7159?fbclid=IwAR0JzMzOjOQUp3nLVBfjWQ9LScAh_tP5ccZssmoqmLYvLQkMhwgGv2UP9xY
..but you would first have to disaggregate their analysis from the economics they included, because otherwise the comparison would be polluted by comparing economics to economics. Have at it and let me know when you're finished, it sounds fascinating!
Those who claim that teachers only work 9 months of the year are NOT teachers. Talk to a teacher. You probably know one.
I do. He works 9 months out of the year. Sure, the first couple years were longer - because he needed to create and refine his lesson plan, but now? 5 years later? He's got it down.
Heck, I taught classes when I was in the military - the hardest part was creating a lesson plan but once you've got one of those you're good-to-go.
Like, algebra and English and PT and chemistry aren't in the middle of a scientific revolution where new knowledge is coming in fast and strong.
The one problem I have with this sort of analysis, as well as the general narrative about how poorly paid teachers are, is that they misrepresent the compensation model. On the surface we can say teachers are not nominally paid well. However, they're paid very well when you consider one other factor: time.
Once you factor in winter, spring, and summer breaks, federal/school holidays, and weather related days off, public school teachers generally work about nine months a year. There are not too many jobs where people get that much time off, especially at the entry level..
Teaching isn't entry level, it requires a pretty grueling higher Ed certificate in most places. There's a lot of time off on the surface, but when public school teachers are working, it's frequently 60 hour weeks. The only teachers I've met who are able to only work during their 7.5 contracted hours are veteran teachers who have 10+ years of experience and prep work backlogged. Summer break is only about 1.5-2 months for teachers because of continuing education / professional development / classroom and school prep / yada. Due to current conditions of teacher/sub shortage, it's nearly impossible to take time off during the school year without screwing your coworkers/students so you lose flexibility. There's a lot of time off built in but there's also a lot of hidden costs and inflexibilities -- I'm extremely close to getting my cert and my master's in teaching, and the extra time off doesn't really look like a good tradeoff to me having been on the inside (WA for context), especially looking at the insane requirements and expectations teachers can be held to -- it's an extremely stressful job with absurd responsibilities (like having a relationship with 180 sets of parents) and the most absurd aspects are only getting worse. There's a reason teacher burnout is about 3 years.
We're all working 60 hour weeks. The higher ed certificates are a waste of effort below the HS Junior level/AP classes. Tons of professions have continuing education requirements - but they don't get a three month break to work on them. None of the rest of us can take time off either - this is normal in industry.
And it doesn't take 10 years to refine an teaching plan.