A Master's Degree Bump in Pay Is a Valuable Investment

• In Event: Roundtable Session 55
  In Roundtable Session: Studies in Teacher Effectiveness, Preparation, and Certification

Abstract

We developed a metric to determine which US states demonstrated the greatest master’s degree effect on students’ reading and mathematics performance over the last decade. Our findings support the fact that students taught by teachers with master’s degrees overwhelmingly outperform student peers taught by teachers with bachelor’s degrees. We determined 60¢ of every dollar spent on salary increases for an earned master’s degree resulted in a Strong Master’s Effect showing valuable effects across state lines.

Authors

• John H. Lamb, The University of Texas - Tyler

• Kouider Mokhtari, The University of Texas - Tyler