The Case for $320,000 Kindergarten Teachers

This is not simply because smart people — people who would do well no matter what — tend to graduate from college. Education itself can make a difference. A long line of economic research, by Julie Berry Cullen, James Heckman, Philip Oreopoulos and many others, has found as much. The study by Mr. Chetty and his colleagues is the latest piece of evidence.

The crucial problem the study had to solve was the old causation-correlation problem. Are children who do well on kindergarten tests destined to do better in life, based on who they are? Or are their teacher and classmates changing them?

The Tennessee experiment, known as Project Star, offered a chance to answer these questions because it randomly assigned students to a kindergarten class. As a result, the classes had fairly similar socioeconomic mixes of students and could be expected to perform similarly on the tests given at the end of kindergarten.

Yet they didn’t. Some classes did far better than others. The differences were too big to be explained by randomness.(Similarly, when the researchers looked at entering and exiting test scores in first, second and third grades, they found that some classes made much more progress than others.)

Class size — which was the impetus of Project Star — evidently played some role. Classes with 13 to 17 students did better than classes with 22 to 25. Peers also seem to matter. In classes with a somewhat higher average socioeconomic status, all the students tended to do a little better.

But neither of these factors came close to explaining the variation in class performance. So another cause seemed to be the explanation: teachers.
Some are highly effective. Some are not. And the differences can affect students for years to come.

When I asked Douglas Staiger, a Dartmouth economist who studies education, what he thought of the new paper, he called it fascinating and potentially important.“The worry has been that education didn’t translate into earnings,” Mr. Staiger said.“But this is telling us that it does and that the fade-out effect is misleading in some sense.”

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. Administrators can fire more of their worst teachers, as Michelle Rhee, the Washington schools chancellor, did last week. Schools can also make sure standardized tests are measuring real student skills and teacher quality, as teachers’ unions have urged.
Given today’s budget pressures, finding the money for any new programs will be difficult. But that’s all the more reason to focus our scarce resources on investments whose benefits won’t simply fade away.

Beyond popular belief I am no Harvard, Dartmouth or any other economist “Expert” however what I can tell you is that my opinion of this paper is that it should be used to wipe ones arse. The word parent(s) was used only once, yes once in the over 6,800 words used to write this story and that was in the context of a single parent. I am sorry, but Parent(s) are far more important to the outcome of a childs future and education than a teacher ever will be. Yes teacher are important, I had teachers in my life that I admire and were influences in my life, however most of them where able to spend maybe 30 minutes with me a day, on a good day.

I did like the following statement “The economists don’t pretend to know the exact causes. But it’s not hard to come up with plausible guesses.” Plausible guesses, plausible guesses!!!! Give me a break……. Education Starts about 5 years before the child ever sees kindergarten and if a parent(s) neglect teaching their children basic reading, writing, arithmetic then that child is already in a hole. The loving Mrs. Logic was a teacher aid in kindergarten for about 4 years. She was shocked at how many children came to school unable to read, write their names or even knew their basic colors and these kids where up against kids who could read well, write not just their names but, sentences. If this dynamic would have been left solely in the hands on the kindergarten, no matter how great and even if he or she made ½ a million a year, the prepared kids would have stalled and the unprepared would have make gains but at a retarded pace.

Any study that does not take into account the Parents is a complete waste on time in my NON Ivy League Educated, Non Expert opinion!

What IS your worth Mr. Logic?

Mr Logic in Jax wrote:

Beyond popular belief I am no Harvard, Dartmouth or any other economist “Expert” however what I can tell you is that my opinion of this paper is that it should be used to wipe ones arse. The word parent(s) was used only once, yes once in the over 6,800 words used to write this story and that was in the context of a single parent. I am sorry, but Parent(s) are far more important to the outcome of a childs future and education than a teacher ever will be. Yes teacher are important, I had teachers in my life that I admire and were influences in my life, however most of them where able to spend maybe 30 minutes with me a day, on a good day.

I don't understand why you are so angry about this article, Logic. I read it yesterday and pretty much agreed with it, although I don't think they seriously meant that kindergarten teachers should be paid over $300,000 per year.

ALL teachers know that parents are THE major influence in a child's life. I've even said to parents that they are the child's first, most important teacher. However, this study showed that having a strong kindergarten teacher served these students well, not only while they were in school, but later in life, as well.

I do have one question for you, though: If parents are the only variable you can see, how do you explain the vast differences in achievement and success we sometimes see between siblings who were raised by the same parents?

Selecia Jones- JAX FL wrote:

What IS your worth Mr. Logic?

Let me look at my pay stub

Ex-Vol in FL wrote:

<quoted text>
I don't understand why you are so angry about this article, Logic. I read it yesterday and pretty much agreed with it, although I don't think they seriously meant that kindergarten teachers should be paid over $300,000 per year.
ALL teachers know that parents are THE major influence in a child's life. I've even said to parents that they are the child's first, most important teacher. However, this study showed that having a strong kindergarten teacher served these students well, not only while they were in school, but later in life, as well.
I do have one question for you, though: If parents are the only variable you can see, how do you explain the vast differences in achievement and success we sometimes see between siblings who were raised by the same parents?

Not sure why you think I am angry about this article I actually made jokes about much of the content. You might wish to read my post again as much of the analysis was about the inherent flaws in the study and comments like “economists don’t pretend to know the exact causes” and “plausible guesses”.

I see you agree with me that teacher are an part of a child’s education and both good and poor teachers can have long term affects on their students. As to the issue with siblings that is an easy question answer, none of us are created equal. One child may have a predisposition for math and another may writing. Also, Parents often change their methods of parenting as they have more children and have children longer. Those are some of the variables that come into play also.

My issue (and one of kids was in K last year, so I live this) is that Duval spends roughly $8,500 per student, so in a class of 20 that's $170,000. Of that $102k is for instruction,$61,200 is for support services, and $6,800 is for other services. For one classroom!

If Jacksonville ran an ad and said they needed Kindergarten teachers and the pay was $130k for the nine months. If you wanted an aid you had to pay for the aid yourself. The kids would be tested at the beginning of the year and again at the end of the year. If your kids met a high standard you could earn an additional 15%($19,500). On the other hand if your students performed poorly and didn't master the basics, you could be paid 15% less, so your salary could range from $110,500 up to $149,500. Even if the teacher made the highest level there would still be $20,500 to pay for just that room's support services.

At at a salary of $110k -$150k, we would have incredible teachers (assuming we got rid of the unions and regulations that make it hard to fire poor performers).

When I walk into my kids classrooms and consider that it's costing $170,000 to support that classroom, it bugs me because as a business person, getting the kind of output for that money is insane.