Hear The Issues - Political Articles and Commentary: Education & Teachers' Salaries

Teachers' salaries in elementary and high schools vary greatly from state to state. Do the states that pay their teachers the most result in higher test scores? Here, we've compared the average salary paid to teachers in each state to the percentage of students in that state who are meeting the standards put in place by the No Child Left Behind Act.

State	Teacher Salary Rank	% Passing
New Jersey	1	54
Connecticut	2	81
California	3	64
New York	4	68
Michigan	5	73
Pennsylvania	6	81
Massachusetts	7	73
Illinois	8	n/a
Rhode Island	9	n/a
Alaska	10	59
Delaware	11	75
Maryland	12	79
Ohio	13	83
Indiana	14	76
Georgia	15	79
Oregon	16	70
Washington	17	82
Minnesota	18	66
Wisconsin	19	94
North Carolina	20	71
Hawaii	21	52
Nevada	22	63
Virginia	23	73
Colorado	24	79
Texas	25	n/a
Alabama	26	23
South Carolina	27	56
New Hampshire	28	73
Vermont	29	87
Florida	30	23
Tennessee	31	86
Iowa	32	92
Kentucky	33	76
Wyoming	34	92
Missouri	35	77
Idaho	36	82
Utah	37	82
Maine	38	73
Arizona	39	82
West Virginia	40	70
Kansas	41	93
New Mexico	42	68
Nebraska	43	n/a
Louisiana	44	92
Oklahoma	45	n/a
Arkansas	46	71
Montana	47	n/a
Mississippi	48	76
North Dakota	49	84
South Dakota	50	78

So, the states are ranked by average teacher salary for public elementary and high school teachers, with New Jersey paying the most, and South Dakota paying the least. The third column show the percentage of students that passed the nationwide standards currently in place. It's also important to note that scores are unavailable for Rhode Island, Nebraska, Montana, Illinois, Texas, and Oklahoma. Let's see if we can answer whether the states that spend more money have more students passing:

--Average % passing for the 25 states that pay teachers the most: 72.5%

--Average % passing for the 25 states that pay teachers the least: 74.36%

When splitting up the states into a top and bottom half, there is essentially no difference in scores. Now we'll look at scores if we divide the states into four groups:

--Average score for group 1: 71.82%

--Average score for group 2: 73.18%

--Average score for group 3: 70.92%

--Average score for group 4: 79.33%

Even when breaking the states down into four groups according to how much teachers are paid, there is still no significant different between the first three groups and scores actually went up slightly for the bottom fourth.

Based on these data, it seems there is no correlation between the amount that teachers are paid and how many students pass the tests put in place by the No Child Left Behind Act.

What about scores compared to how much money is spent on each student?

Data Sources:

Per Pupil Spending - Stateline
Test Scores - Pew Research State of the States 2005

Related Links:

Education and Teachers' Salaries

Compiled by David Pakman