So I mentioned recently that teachers are paid based on years of experience and number of college credits earned. I also mentioned that research has shown that these two categories have no correlation to student performance. That means that a teacher with ten years of teaching experience and a bachelors degree could teach just as well or better than a teacher with 30 years of experience and a masters degree.
I am currently working with in this system to try and increase my pay. I am taking the last class I need to hit the threshold for the next pay bump. I do this because I see no other way to increase my earnings as a teacher. I am not patient enough to wait for the yearly increases. Particularly not early in my career where they are less frequent.
That is another disappointment that I have with teacher pay. My division's pay scale offers no raise for teachers in their 1, 2, or 3 years of teaching. Yet research has shown that these are incredibly formative years for new teachers. The first pay bump comes at the start of your fourth year, which here in Virginia, is when you earn your long term contract.
I am looking forward to the day when pay in education is a reflection of your worth as a teacher of students and not a reflection of your years in the profession and your level of formal education.
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