The Case for $320,000 Kindergarten Teachers

[elleng]

There has always been one major caveat, however, to the research on the fade-out effect. It was based mainly on test scores, not on a broader set of measures, like a child’s health or eventual earnings. As Raj Chetty, a Harvard economist, says: “We don’t really care about test scores. We care about adult outcomes.” . .

Just as in other studies, the Tennessee experiment found that some teachers were able to help students learn vastly more than other teachers. And just as in other studies, the effect largely disappeared by junior high, based on test scores. Yet when Mr. Chetty and his colleagues took another look at the students in adulthood, they discovered that the legacy of kindergarten had re-emerged.

Students who had learned much more in kindergarten were more likely to go to college than students with otherwise similar backgrounds. Students who learned more were also less likely to become single parents. As adults, they were more likely to be saving for retirement. Perhaps most striking, they were earning more.


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/28/business/economy/28leonhardt.html?_r=1&hp

[stray cat]

1. If you will pay it

[BridgeTheGap]

2. We all pay for it, one way or the other. It's the "pay me now or pay me later" scenario.

As a whole, we Americans are notoriously short-sighted.

[elleng]

3. The point is:

'Mr. Chetty and his colleagues — one of whom, Emmanuel Saez, recently won the prize for the top research economist under the age of 40 — estimate that a standout kindergarten teacher is worth about $320,000 a year. That’s the present value of the additional money that a full class of students can expect to earn over their careers. This estimate doesn’t take into account social gains, like better health and less crime.

Obviously, great kindergarten teachers are not going to start making $320,000 anytime soon. Still, school administrators can do more than they’re doing.

They can pay their best teachers more, as Pittsburgh soon will, and give them the support they deserve.'

[no_hypocrisy]

4. Agreed. You do get what you pay for. I survived my kindergarten teacher.

She wanted to hold me back a year and special ed to boot.

Why: Because I couldn't skip or use scissors to cut a straight line.

Reason why I couldn't: My mother never let me use scissors and they were new to me when I entered school. And same thing with skipping, never knew what it was, never was taught how to skip, and you aren't born with an inate ability to skip.

If my parents hadn't intervened, her recommendations would have determined the rest of my life. (They took me for an IQ test and I was above average.)

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. I could never skip either

Maybe that's the reason I became a teacher and I don't make $320,000 a year. LOL

[no_hypocrisy]

6. Can you imagine "skipping" to be the red-line criterium to advance to first grade?

Forget the alphabet,numbers, shapes, colors, and calendar.

[PittsburghKid]

7. Merit Pay

I couldn't jump in preschool and my preschool teacher told me I had horrible scissor skills. She also scolded me for laughing at a funny bit in a storybook. Way to kill a toddler's confidence! Thankfully, my kindergarten teacher and first grade teacher were there to get my motor skills up to speed with my academic skills (I could divide in kindergarten but hadn't the slightest clue how to tie my shoe).

I view it a lot like baseball. Just like the Albert Pujolses and Derek Jeters of the world get the big paychecks (as opposed to the players who should be in AAA), our better teachers should get paid more for being better. I don't see $320,000 anytime soon (but would love to as a future elementary educator!) although I do think the best teachers should make more regardless of experience level. Again, look at baseball players--old guys like Matt Stairs who have experience but are there only to pinch hit don't make as much as a guy fifteen years younger than him who can hit 35 homers each year.

Of course, evaluation standards will always fail and some teachers will get paid more in the end than they're worth. Pittsburgh fans may remember Jason Kendall. He got a huge contract about ten years ago but never really lived up to it. There will be Kendalls in the education world, teachers who have a career year (like Kendall did) and then never be as good for whatever reason--desire for a paycheck and subsequent slacking off included. (Kendall was injury, and I guess that could happen to teachers too--I had one forced into retirement due to illness in middle school). Still, some admins will probably play favorites and the lousy teachers will get the six-figure paychecks for some reason (experience, ability to coach football, etc) while their better counterparts make $30K per year.

$30K or $320,000, I promise to teach like the guy worth $320,000 no matter what once I start teaching after graduation!!!

[femmocrat]

8. Welcome to DU, PittsburghKid!

:hi:

I disagree with you on merit pay, but I wish you the best on developing into the teacher you aspire to become. Welcome to our most honorable profession. :hug: