The fact that well-qualified teachers are inequitably distributed to students in the United States has received growing public attention. Studies in state after state have found that students of color in low- income schools are 3 to 10 times more likely to have unqualified teachers than students in predominantly white schools.
In Speaking of Salaries: What it will Take to get Qualified, Effective Teachers in All Communities, by Frank Adamson and Linda Darling-Hammond, the authors examine how funding, salaries, and teacher qualifications vary across districts and how these variations affect achievement. The report explores whether and to what extent unequal salaries and the district revenues that underlie pay and working conditions are at the root of the teacher distribution problem and reviews the literature on these questions. In addition, the authors discuss strategies that have proven to be successful in recruiting qualified and effective teachers to high-need schools, and draw implications for federal policy that may finally resolve this dilemma that has for so long reinforced the achievement gap.
To view the report, see http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/05/teacher_salary.html
