Michael Petrilli
@michaelpetrilli.bsky.social
President of the Fordham Institute, executive editor of Education Next, proud father.
Hi folks. My round up of views here: schooledbymikepetrilli.substack.com/p/the-logic-...
More next week on the policy implications. (Spoiler alert: I think Texas's Teacher Incentive Allotment is worth emulating.)
More next week on the policy implications. (Spoiler alert: I think Texas's Teacher Incentive Allotment is worth emulating.)
The logic behind low teacher salaries
SCHOOLED | Friday, 11/7/25
schooledbymikepetrilli.substack.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Hi folks. My round up of views here: schooledbymikepetrilli.substack.com/p/the-logic-...
More next week on the policy implications. (Spoiler alert: I think Texas's Teacher Incentive Allotment is worth emulating.)
More next week on the policy implications. (Spoiler alert: I think Texas's Teacher Incentive Allotment is worth emulating.)
My round up of views here: schooledbymikepetrilli.substack.com/p/the-logic-...
More next week on the policy implications. (Spoiler alert: I think Texas's Teacher Incentive Allotment is worth emulating.)
More next week on the policy implications. (Spoiler alert: I think Texas's Teacher Incentive Allotment is worth emulating.)
The logic behind low teacher salaries
SCHOOLED | Friday, 11/7/25
schooledbymikepetrilli.substack.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:36 PM
My round up of views here: schooledbymikepetrilli.substack.com/p/the-logic-...
More next week on the policy implications. (Spoiler alert: I think Texas's Teacher Incentive Allotment is worth emulating.)
More next week on the policy implications. (Spoiler alert: I think Texas's Teacher Incentive Allotment is worth emulating.)
My round up of views here: schooledbymikepetrilli.substack.com/p/the-logic-...
More next week on the policy implications. (Spoiler alert: I think Texas's Teacher Incentive Allotment is worth emulating.)
More next week on the policy implications. (Spoiler alert: I think Texas's Teacher Incentive Allotment is worth emulating.)
The logic behind low teacher salaries
SCHOOLED | Friday, 11/7/25
schooledbymikepetrilli.substack.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:36 PM
My round up of views here: schooledbymikepetrilli.substack.com/p/the-logic-...
More next week on the policy implications. (Spoiler alert: I think Texas's Teacher Incentive Allotment is worth emulating.)
More next week on the policy implications. (Spoiler alert: I think Texas's Teacher Incentive Allotment is worth emulating.)
My round up of views here: schooledbymikepetrilli.substack.com/p/the-logic-...
More next week on the policy implications. (Spoiler alert: I think Texas's Teacher Incentive Allotment is worth emulating.)
More next week on the policy implications. (Spoiler alert: I think Texas's Teacher Incentive Allotment is worth emulating.)
The logic behind low teacher salaries
SCHOOLED | Friday, 11/7/25
schooledbymikepetrilli.substack.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:35 PM
My round up of views here: schooledbymikepetrilli.substack.com/p/the-logic-...
More next week on the policy implications. (Spoiler alert: I think Texas's Teacher Incentive Allotment is worth emulating.)
More next week on the policy implications. (Spoiler alert: I think Texas's Teacher Incentive Allotment is worth emulating.)
Hi folks. My round up of views here: schooledbymikepetrilli.substack.com/p/the-logic-...
More next week on the policy implications. (Spoiler alert: I think Texas's Teacher Incentive Allotment is worth emulating.)
More next week on the policy implications. (Spoiler alert: I think Texas's Teacher Incentive Allotment is worth emulating.)
The logic behind low teacher salaries
SCHOOLED | Friday, 11/7/25
schooledbymikepetrilli.substack.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Hi folks. My round up of views here: schooledbymikepetrilli.substack.com/p/the-logic-...
More next week on the policy implications. (Spoiler alert: I think Texas's Teacher Incentive Allotment is worth emulating.)
More next week on the policy implications. (Spoiler alert: I think Texas's Teacher Incentive Allotment is worth emulating.)
Reposted by Michael Petrilli
3) Hanushek and Rivkin found working conditions play a larger role in teacher retention between sites. They note a few areas of potential investment that would be more effective than salary increases: behavior supports and improved leadership to start.
hanushek.stanford.edu/publications...
hanushek.stanford.edu/publications...
Pay, Working Conditions, and Teacher Quality | Eric A. Hanushek
Eric Hanushek and Steven Rivkin examine how salary and working conditions affect the quality of instruction in the classroom. The wages of teachers relative to those of other college graduates have fa...
hanushek.stanford.edu
November 6, 2025 at 6:22 PM
3) Hanushek and Rivkin found working conditions play a larger role in teacher retention between sites. They note a few areas of potential investment that would be more effective than salary increases: behavior supports and improved leadership to start.
hanushek.stanford.edu/publications...
hanushek.stanford.edu/publications...
Reposted by Michael Petrilli
2) If early-career earnings for credentialed teachers are higher for those hired into teaching roles, it suggests that those who pursued other options were wooed by something other than salary.
caldercenter.org/publications...
caldercenter.org/publications...
Out of the Gate, but Not Necessarily Teaching: A Descriptive Portrait of Early-Career Earnings for Those Who Are Credentialed to Teach | CALDER Center
caldercenter.org
November 6, 2025 at 6:21 PM
2) If early-career earnings for credentialed teachers are higher for those hired into teaching roles, it suggests that those who pursued other options were wooed by something other than salary.
caldercenter.org/publications...
caldercenter.org/publications...
Reposted by Michael Petrilli
1) If teachers leaving the profession are typically earning less than they were in the classroom, that working conditions > compensation. Certainly this is complicated by some percentage of leavers who were going to leave no matter what.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
journals.sagepub.com
November 6, 2025 at 6:21 PM
1) If teachers leaving the profession are typically earning less than they were in the classroom, that working conditions > compensation. Certainly this is complicated by some percentage of leavers who were going to leave no matter what.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Michael Petrilli
Data on compensation vs. working conditions are mixed, as this excerpt from @aefpweb.bsky.social Live Handbook notes, but there are three studies that I find more persuasive on compensation vs. working conditions.
livehandbook.org/k-12-educati...
livehandbook.org/k-12-educati...
livehandbook.org
November 6, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Data on compensation vs. working conditions are mixed, as this excerpt from @aefpweb.bsky.social Live Handbook notes, but there are three studies that I find more persuasive on compensation vs. working conditions.
livehandbook.org/k-12-educati...
livehandbook.org/k-12-educati...
Reposted by Michael Petrilli
I don't agree that working conditions are more important than pay (these things are very difficult to compare) but it is true at some margin teachers prefer more support staff than higher salaries. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/...
Investing in the Teacher Workforce: Experimental Evidence on Teachers’ Preferences - Virginia S. Lovison, Cecilia Hyunjung Mo, 2024
Inadequate compensation is often viewed as the root of teacher workforce challenges despite teacher reports that working conditions matter more. Using an origin...
journals.sagepub.com
November 5, 2025 at 3:19 PM
I don't agree that working conditions are more important than pay (these things are very difficult to compare) but it is true at some margin teachers prefer more support staff than higher salaries. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/...
Fair enough. Which studies would you point to, James? And which investments boost working conditions?
November 5, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Fair enough. Which studies would you point to, James? And which investments boost working conditions?
Reposted by Michael Petrilli
I don't know that it's strange: the literature already points to working conditions playing a larger role than compensation in teachers' decision to change employers or leave the profession.
November 4, 2025 at 10:23 PM
I don't know that it's strange: the literature already points to working conditions playing a larger role than compensation in teachers' decision to change employers or leave the profession.
Reposted by Michael Petrilli
I wouldn't characterize the main point of school funding reform as boosting teacher salaries. It helps students - @kirabojackson.bsky.social's opening plenary at SREE covered that in great detail.
The teacher compensation reform literature seems a bit more mixed. There's room for improvement.
The teacher compensation reform literature seems a bit more mixed. There's room for improvement.
November 4, 2025 at 6:44 PM
I wouldn't characterize the main point of school funding reform as boosting teacher salaries. It helps students - @kirabojackson.bsky.social's opening plenary at SREE covered that in great detail.
The teacher compensation reform literature seems a bit more mixed. There's room for improvement.
The teacher compensation reform literature seems a bit more mixed. There's room for improvement.
Reposted by Michael Petrilli
I think that's partially right, but if anything the empirical evidence suggests unions limit this trend from being even more extreme edworkingpapers.com/sites/defaul...
edworkingpapers.com
November 4, 2025 at 4:55 PM
I think that's partially right, but if anything the empirical evidence suggests unions limit this trend from being even more extreme edworkingpapers.com/sites/defaul...
And strangely, it seems to be what the teachers, and their unions, want too...
November 4, 2025 at 4:42 PM
And strangely, it seems to be what the teachers, and their unions, want too...
Reposted by Michael Petrilli
exactly and many schools of choice actively market their small classes/staffing ratios. this trend appears to be a market response—which doesn't necessarily mean it's optimal!—as much as anything else.
November 4, 2025 at 2:18 PM
exactly and many schools of choice actively market their small classes/staffing ratios. this trend appears to be a market response—which doesn't necessarily mean it's optimal!—as much as anything else.
Reposted by Michael Petrilli
The expensive private schools rich people send their kids to are full of moderate-salary teachers in very small classes.
November 4, 2025 at 2:13 PM
The expensive private schools rich people send their kids to are full of moderate-salary teachers in very small classes.
And charter schools too
November 4, 2025 at 4:41 PM
And charter schools too
Reposted by Michael Petrilli
it's also notable that the same trend (greater investment in people than salaries) show up in private schools. for better or worse this may reflect schools' response to what parents want.
November 4, 2025 at 2:12 PM
it's also notable that the same trend (greater investment in people than salaries) show up in private schools. for better or worse this may reflect schools' response to what parents want.
Reposted by Michael Petrilli
what is the evidence that higher salaries are a better investment than more people? I think the research is mixed and unclear here. See eg www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Rent-Seeking through collective bargaining: Teachers unions and education production☆
We explore how teachers unions affect education production by comparing outcomes between districts allocating new tax revenue amidst collective bargai…
www.sciencedirect.com
November 4, 2025 at 2:10 PM
what is the evidence that higher salaries are a better investment than more people? I think the research is mixed and unclear here. See eg www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Thoughts? @mattbarnum.bsky.social @kevincarey1.bsky.social @kirabojackson.bsky.social @carajackson.bsky.social @joshua-goodman.com @matthewakraft.com @chingos.bsky.social @mpolikoff.bsky.social @conorpwilliams.bsky.social @rebeccasibilia.bsky.social @cedr.bsky.social @chadaldeman.bsky.social
November 4, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Well, at least in Ohio we cap the scholarships at $600 for the wealthiest families. We use a sliding scale, akin to a weighted-student formula. So on that score, Ohio deserves praise, not derision! :)
October 31, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Well, at least in Ohio we cap the scholarships at $600 for the wealthiest families. We use a sliding scale, akin to a weighted-student formula. So on that score, Ohio deserves praise, not derision! :)