2008 Woodie Awards
Nebraska teachers deserve better pay
Jeff Hall
Issue date: 3/10/08 Section: Opinion
When the No Child Left Behind Act was being debated in Congress, the key words being thrown around were accountability and incentives.
These two phrases have come to define the debate in American education.
School districts and teachers must be held accountable for their results, and at the same time, be given incentives to increase student performance.
Apparently the state of Nebraska has forgotten about the latter half of that equation.
The average salary for a teacher in our state has dropped yet again in national rankings. For the 2007-08 school year, the average Nebraska teacher salary ranks an abysmal 45th out of the 50 states.
Surely there must be a reason for this neglect of our state's teachers. A simple explanation may be that Nebraska students are not performing at a high level academically, and thus teacher pay has been adjusted accordingly.
Looking at the two national college entrance exams, it is clear that this is false.
On the ACT, Nebraska high school students had an average composite score of 22.1 in 2007, beating the national average of 21.2. Nebraska ranked 13th in the United States.
SAT scores tell a similar tale. The 2007 average score for Nebraska was 1,726, over 200 points above the national average of 1,511. By this standard, Nebraska was ranked ninth in the country.
Clearly, performance is not the issue. Nebraska high school students consistently beat out their peers on national exams.
Another argument justifying teacher compensation in Nebraska is the comparatively low cost of living. Admittedly, this contention seems to make sense - teacher pay is not neglected, it is simply in line with the relative expense of living in the area.
But Wyoming now ranks 16th in average teacher salary, while Colorado stands at 28th. Indeed, every state that borders Nebraska has better teacher compensation, outside of South Dakota. If the cost of living was really the factor keeping teacher pay low, this ought to be reflected in other states in the region.
Obviously this takes the legs out of the cost-of-living argument.
College students pay attention to these factors as they attempt to find jobs after graduation. Low salaries handicap the ability of Nebraska schools to attract the best and brightest educators from around the country, limiting the pool of available applicants.
The structure of teacher certification in the state also poses a significant barrier to recruiting intelligent and motivated high school graduates.
For a student to obtain a degree in secondary education at our university, five years is the typical - and suggested - length of time necessary to obtain a degree.
For a student to graduate in the four years typical for other degrees, they will have to take either a heavy dose of summer courses or go above the standard 15 hours per semester to meet degree requirements.
Either path limits the student's ability to work and be involved in extra-curricular activities such as service organizations and honors fraternities. It also means higher student loan debt upon graduation.
For some like myself, teaching is a calling. I have not dreamed of any other career and cannot wait to begin teaching.
Salary and debt do not concern people like me, because we know we will be doing what we love. That is our incentive to become a teacher.
But for others, these are deterrents to becoming teachers. Those interested in economics might have an interest in teaching but are turned towards the business world by the salary. A student with a powerful command of history may decide that a post-graduate degree will be more profitable than teaching in the end.
It is for these prospective teachers that incentives must be put in place.
One such incentive has been introduced into the Nebraska legislature. LB1100 would take $200 million from the state's revenue surplus and invest it in an education trust fund, the interest being used to pay for teacher's salaries in the state.
LB1110 is just a small step towards making Nebraska competitive in the national market for graduates, but it is a start.
If we as a state expect our students to continue achieving at high levels, we must do all we can to recruit and retain teachers, from high school graduation onward.
Accountability and incentives produce high quality teachers and high quality schools. Currently, Nebraska teachers produce outstanding students with less than outstanding incentives.
Just think what could happen with a real commitment to our educators.
Jeff Hall is a senior secondary education major. Reach him at jeffhall@dailynebraskan.com.
These two phrases have come to define the debate in American education.
School districts and teachers must be held accountable for their results, and at the same time, be given incentives to increase student performance.
Apparently the state of Nebraska has forgotten about the latter half of that equation.
The average salary for a teacher in our state has dropped yet again in national rankings. For the 2007-08 school year, the average Nebraska teacher salary ranks an abysmal 45th out of the 50 states.
Surely there must be a reason for this neglect of our state's teachers. A simple explanation may be that Nebraska students are not performing at a high level academically, and thus teacher pay has been adjusted accordingly.
Looking at the two national college entrance exams, it is clear that this is false.
On the ACT, Nebraska high school students had an average composite score of 22.1 in 2007, beating the national average of 21.2. Nebraska ranked 13th in the United States.
SAT scores tell a similar tale. The 2007 average score for Nebraska was 1,726, over 200 points above the national average of 1,511. By this standard, Nebraska was ranked ninth in the country.
Clearly, performance is not the issue. Nebraska high school students consistently beat out their peers on national exams.
Another argument justifying teacher compensation in Nebraska is the comparatively low cost of living. Admittedly, this contention seems to make sense - teacher pay is not neglected, it is simply in line with the relative expense of living in the area.
But Wyoming now ranks 16th in average teacher salary, while Colorado stands at 28th. Indeed, every state that borders Nebraska has better teacher compensation, outside of South Dakota. If the cost of living was really the factor keeping teacher pay low, this ought to be reflected in other states in the region.
Obviously this takes the legs out of the cost-of-living argument.
College students pay attention to these factors as they attempt to find jobs after graduation. Low salaries handicap the ability of Nebraska schools to attract the best and brightest educators from around the country, limiting the pool of available applicants.
The structure of teacher certification in the state also poses a significant barrier to recruiting intelligent and motivated high school graduates.
For a student to obtain a degree in secondary education at our university, five years is the typical - and suggested - length of time necessary to obtain a degree.
For a student to graduate in the four years typical for other degrees, they will have to take either a heavy dose of summer courses or go above the standard 15 hours per semester to meet degree requirements.
Either path limits the student's ability to work and be involved in extra-curricular activities such as service organizations and honors fraternities. It also means higher student loan debt upon graduation.
For some like myself, teaching is a calling. I have not dreamed of any other career and cannot wait to begin teaching.
Salary and debt do not concern people like me, because we know we will be doing what we love. That is our incentive to become a teacher.
But for others, these are deterrents to becoming teachers. Those interested in economics might have an interest in teaching but are turned towards the business world by the salary. A student with a powerful command of history may decide that a post-graduate degree will be more profitable than teaching in the end.
It is for these prospective teachers that incentives must be put in place.
One such incentive has been introduced into the Nebraska legislature. LB1100 would take $200 million from the state's revenue surplus and invest it in an education trust fund, the interest being used to pay for teacher's salaries in the state.
LB1110 is just a small step towards making Nebraska competitive in the national market for graduates, but it is a start.
If we as a state expect our students to continue achieving at high levels, we must do all we can to recruit and retain teachers, from high school graduation onward.
Accountability and incentives produce high quality teachers and high quality schools. Currently, Nebraska teachers produce outstanding students with less than outstanding incentives.
Just think what could happen with a real commitment to our educators.
Jeff Hall is a senior secondary education major. Reach him at jeffhall@dailynebraskan.com.
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