You Get What You Pay For: Why We Need to Invest in Strategic Compensation Reform

ABSTRACT

This article draws on recent insight regarding the distribution and mobility of highly effective teachers, student access to top-performing educators, and research on the effectiveness of strategic compensation reforms to argue that the single-salary pay schedule has resulted in disturbing inequities for students and inefficiencies in resource allocation. These inequities are particularly alarming given that strategic compensation reforms hold promise for not only improving the quality of public education overall but ensuring quality educational opportunities for students from traditionally underserved communities. Simply put, strategic compensation reform can meaningfully impact public education, and it is time this potential is recognized and utilized.

Acknowledgment

Matthew G. Springer is the Robena and Walter E. Hussman, Jr., Distinguished Professor of Education Reform at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I greatly appreciate helpful comments and suggestions from Chris Brooks, Eric Houck, Matt Kraft, Lam Pham, Luis Rodriguez, and course participants in Carolina’s Accountability and Incentives PhD seminar and the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching’s roundtable on the future of public education. The usual disclaimers apply.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ Compulsory school attendance laws vary by state, with age of required attendance ranging from 5 to 19.

² Values are based on data reported in U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics (2016).

³ For research on Denver’s ProComp initiative see Goldhaber and Walch (2012), Gonring et al. (2007); Fulbeck (2014), and Atteberry and LaCour (2019). For research on Houston’s program see work by Imberman and Lovenheim (2015) and Brehm et al. (2015).

⁴ For research on Minnesota’s Q-Comp see Sojourner et al. (2014) and Nadler and Wiswall (2011). For research on initiatives in Texas see Springer et al. (2012b), Springer et al. (2009a, 2009b), and Springer and Taylor (2016).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Matthew G. Springer

Matthew G. Springer is the Robena and Walter E. Hussman, Jr. Distinguished Professor and chair of the Educational Policy and Organizational Leadership area at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. His research focuses on accountability, compensation, and incentives.