Pay teachers what they’re worth

From West Virginia to Arizona, public-school teachers are in revolt. They are demanding better pay, and they deserve it—so long as their salaries are tied to their performance.

It’s not that U.S. teachers are underpaid; the median income for the country’s 1 million highschool teachers, for example, is more than 50 percent higher than that of the general population. But relative to peers with similar levels of education, teachers are falling behind. In 1994, public-school teachers made only 2 percent less than college graduates in other fields; by 2015, the gap was 17 percent.

In the vast majority of school districts, teachers’ salaries are determined by their educational backgrounds and years of classroom experience.

Across-the-board pay increases for teachers may go some way toward improving student performance, but not far enough. Despite opposition from unions, school districts in at least 30 states have introduced performance-based bonuses for teachers. In schools where teacher pay is tied to student performance, test scores have risen by the equivalent of three additional weeks of learning. Districts with merit pay are better able to hire strong entry-level candidates and prevent high-performing teachers from leaving.

International comparisons bear out a basic if self-evident truth: How well students perform depends on how well they’re taught. The U.S. should pay its teachers more, and give the best ones incentives to show how much they’re worth.