Education Commons^™

Changes In Teacher Salaries Under The Arkansas Learns Act, Gema Zamarro, Andrew Camp, Josh Mcgee, Taylor Wilson, Miranda Vernon

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

• The LEARNS Act:
• Increased the state’s minimum teacher salary from $36,000 to $50,000,
• Guaranteed all teachers a minimum raise of $2,000, and
• Removed the minimum teacher salary schedule and relaxed other salary schedule requirements in state law.
• Before LEARNS, starting teacher salaries in almost all school districts were below the new minimum salary of $50,000.
• The average entry-level teacher salary for those holding a bachelor’s degree was about $38,000, with 39% of districts paying the pre-LEARNS minimum salary of $36,000.
• Starting teacher salaries under LEARNS are now more equally distributed, with minimal variation across districts.
• This school year, 97% of …

A Glimpse Into Arkansas Teachers’ Grading Practices, Sarah Morris, Sarah C. Mckenzie

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

This case study assesses the current, self-reported grading practices among Arkansas teachers. We distributed a Teachers’ Grading Perceptions survey in November, 2022, and we conducted semi-structured interviews with teachers and principals in January-February, 2023. We gathered both quantitative and qualitative data from the teacher survey, and we used interviews to collect themes for current grading practices in Arkansas’s schools. We generated a grading equity scale from the survey questions, verified by a reliable alpha coefficient = 0.83, and we use this in a multivariate regression to explore teacher characteristics and their likelihood of favoring grading equity practices. We collected themes …

Economic Evaluation Of Teacher Induction Programs: A Toolkit How-To Guide, Jonathan D. Becker, Elisa Tedona, Matthew Togna

MERC Publications

Research shows that teacher induction programs can be effective as measured by a number of outcomes. However, research also shows that teacher induction programs vary greatly from one district to another. Furthermore, there is no research that examines teacher induction programs with respect to costs and benefits. Educational leaders and stakeholders do not need to wait on formal institutional research to do such an economic evaluation.

This how-to guide, in combination with a comprehensive report, the Teacher Induction Program Cost Matrix and the Teacher Induction Program Benefit-Cost Workbook, comprises a toolkit designed to allow school and district leaders to …

Administrator Feedback To Teachers, Regina Frazier, Candace Wilkerson, Jacquie Cioffi, Patrick Simmons, Makeba Lindsay D'Abreu, Thea Racelis, Amanda Simmons, Melissa Yancey, Deanna Fierro, David B. Naff

MERC Publications

This brief from the Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium (MERC) curates peer-reviewed scholarship as well as state and school board policies in Virginia related to administrator feedback to teachers. It explores the following questions: 1) What is the purpose of administrators providing feedback to teachers? 2) How do administrators typically provide feedback to teachers? 3) How do teachers typically receive feedback from administrators? 4) What are research-based strategies for administrators to provide productive feedback to teachers? It concludes with key takeaways and recommendations for how administrators provide feedback to teachers.