Effects of Teacher Salary on Student Achievement

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 5:10 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 4
  In Roundtable Session: Teacher Compensation, Pensions, and Alternative Contract Employment (Table 12)

Abstract

School spending improves student achievement and teacher salaries are the largest expense in K-12 budgets. Evidence is mixed, however, about the relationship between teacher salaries and achievement. Using national SEDA and NCES district-level data 2009-2019, we examine the relationship between teacher salaries and achievement and how that relationship varies by district economic and demographic context. We gather new data on teacher salary schedules in 17 states and use the lowest salary step as an instrumental variable to estimate the effect of teacher salaries on achievement. We find that a 10% increase in average teacher salary improves achievement by an average of 0.25 standard deviations in the following year. Investing in higher teacher salaries is beneficial for student achievement.

Authors

• Emily Rauscher, Brown University

• Macy Brammer, Brown University

• Yifei Huang, Brown University