The Effects of Salary Change on Measures of Teacher Quality

Given the importance that education has on determining the future direction of our nation and that better quality teachers are more likely to shape that direction in a positive manner, the Capstone team investigated what factors influence teacher quality. The Capstone team hypothesized that increased teachers’ salaries could have a positive impact on teacher quality over time, but that there might be other factors, such as working conditions, that could be equally important. As such, the Capstone team studied the effects that salary change over a period of six years had on measures of teacher quality over the same period. The Capstone team utilized the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) 1987 and 1993 Student and Staffing Surveys (SASS) as data sources, and implemented a panel design to study the change on a particular location over the six years, including work environment controls to get a broader picture of what influences quality.