Using financial analyses, Public Impact shows how redesigned teacher roles that extend the reach of excellent teachers to more students free funds to pay those teachers up to 130 percent more, within current budgets.
- Multi-classroom leadership can pay teachers up to about 130% more
- Elementary subject specialization can pay teachers up to 43% more
- Swapping teacher time with age-appropriate digital instruction can pay up to 41% more
- Combining models may increase pay and teamwork
- A new financial planning summary summarizes all
In some variations of each model, schools may pay all teachers more while providing new, varied roles and sustainably funded career paths.
Public Impact analyzed three of its 20+ school models developed under its Opportunity Culture initiative, calculating the savings and costs to demonstrate schools’ options to increase teachers’ pay, without increasing class sizes and within budget. When teachers reach more students, additional per-pupil funds become available to support those teachers’ work. This additional funding, minus new costs, can be used for higher pay and other priorities, according to the values, needs, and priorities of each school. Schools facing continued financial pressures can allocate a portion of savings to cover budget gaps. Other possible priorities include funding extended learning time and smaller group sizes, among others noted.
Though the pay increases and savings made possible for any specific school will depend on local factors, these briefs provide a starting point for districts, schools, and teachers to develop their own projections.
In the Multi-Classroom Leadership model, excellent teachers with leadership skills lead and develop teams of teachers and paraprofessionals to deliver learning that meets the leader’s standard of excellence to multiple classrooms of students. Public Impact’s calculations show that schools could increase teacher-leader pay between 67% and 134%.
In the Elementary Subject Specialization model, classroom subject specialists teach one or two core subjects in which they excel to two to four classes of students. Schools relieve them of other instructional and noninstructional duties, in part by providing paraprofessional support staff to supervise students during noninstructional time and complete administrative paperwork. Schools could increase teacher pay up to 43% using this model.
In a Time-Technology Swap-Rotation model, students rotate through age-appropriate portions of digital learning (as little as about an hour daily per student) to free the time of excellent teachers to teach more students and potentially to collaborate with peers. Schools could increase teacher pay up to 41% using this model.
Combining models to extend the reach of excellent teachers and promote excellence by all instructional staff may produce even greater savings to fund teacher pay increases and other priorities, while producing excellent student outcomes. Combinations also can increase time for planning, collaboration, and development.
To read the full report, please visit http://opportunityculture.org/reach/pay-teachers-more/
