Teacher salaries, a policy brief

Many schools are experiencing troubling numbers of vacant teaching positions, with student achievement substantially below pre-pandemic levels. At the same time many states and districts are discussing substantial across-the-board increases in teacher salaries, often aspiring to some arbitrary benchmark. General increases in teacher salaries may well be warranted in some, or even many, districts. However, existing research suggests that by themselves, across-the-board increases are not the most effective policy.

This policy brief examines these issues in Virginia. It shows that schools with concentrations of poor students have substantially more teaching vacancies and much lower student achievement. It also shows that starting teacher salaries in Virginia have declined over the last 16 years and that lower salaries are associated with teacher vacancies. It is likely that the patterns documented in Virginia are found in many, perhaps most, other states. Policies to address these issues would increase teacher salaries generally with much larger increases for effective teachers who teach in high poverty schools and subjects with greater shortages, such as special education, math, and science.