Nicolas Zerbino

The teacher workforce in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) has been a perpetual weak spot in public schools’ teaching rosters. Prior reports show the pipeline of new STEM teachers into the profession is weak while demand for instruction in STEM fields continues to grow. This paper seeks to document whether and how the STEM teacher workforce in high-need settings has been impacted by these pressures. It analyzes successive waves of nationally representative teacher survey data to explore demographics and qualifications among the secondary STEM teacher workforce in high-need settings has fared over time. Results show the STEM teacher workforce in high-need schools is consistently less likely to be experienced, less likely to hold any degree in a STEM field, less likely to hold a master’s degree, and less likely to be fully certified than STEM teachers in more advantaged settings. Yet, surprisingly, the observed qualifications gaps across high- versus low-need settings are either stable or slightly narrowing over time. Certain STEM fields—namely, physical sciences and computer science—rely on a less qualified workforce than those in math or biology, with low levels of teacher qualifications observed across both high- and low-need settings. Though even when considering field-specific alignment between teachers’ background qualifications and their teaching assignments, the qualifications gap between high- and low-need settings has been slowly shrinking in three of four STEM fields analyzed here. In addition to high-need schools, small schools (based on enrollment size) rely more heavily on underqualified STEM teachers.

More →

Public teacher compensation is largely determined by fixed salary schedules that were designed to avoid payment inequalities based on demographic characteristics. Yet, recent research shows female teachers earn less than their male peers after controlling for experience, education, and school characteristics. Building on this literature, this paper examines teacher salaries to provide empirical evidence of the extent of gender wage gaps in the teaching profession and the sources of those gaps. Using data from two waves of the National Teacher and Principal Survey, we show that on average male teachers have an advantage of over $700 in base pay and of $1,500 in supplemental compensation, compared to female teachers with similar characteristics and in similar contexts. Additionally, our estimations indicate that male teachers are both more likely to take on extra duties and receive compensation for those activities than female teachers, and the gap increases when schools have a male principal. Finally, an analysis of wage gaps across collective bargaining contexts suggests that wage gaps are positive for both base pay and extra duties, though the magnitudes of each vary across different CBA contexts. Our results provide insight into teacher compensation policies.

More →