New research from the University of Akron finds that better pay for teachers could have a major impact on the education low-income students receive.
Study co-author Ali Enami examined several factors and how they related to students’ test scores.
One of the things he considered was Ohio’s program that helps school districts with high poverty rates fund construction projects. He says research shows no correlation between new buildings and test scores.
“I think our research basically says that we should have some sort of funding from the state—extra funding I would say—for these school districts to be able to provide better pay for the teachers,” Enami said.
He also looked at other factors including class size and attendance. He says increasing teacher pay was the only one to show an impact. He found that a 1% increase in teachers’ salaries in high poverty districts led to a 2.5% increase in the math proficiency rate of high school graduates.
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