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The Case for a Raise: Higher Teacher Salaries Mean a Better Shot at College

The Case for a Raise: Higher Teacher Salaries Mean a Better Shot at College - Brainly Insights

A new study reveals a striking relationship between the average teacher pay by state and the average student performance in that state. The gist: Higher-paid teachers produce higher-performing students, giving them a boost in the race for college acceptance.

2018 Test Scores vs. Teachers Salaries by State

Background

Every year, millions of high-school students sweat through standardized tests like the ACT and the SAT. A good score on one of these tests can boost the chances of acceptance into a prestigious college or university, a scholarship, or even a future job.

Behind the education of each test-taker lies the tireless efforts of hard-working teachers, who together form one of the most critical workforces in our country. Many argue that teachers aren’t paid enough. We took a look at average teacher salaries by state against average test scores to learn more.

Here’s a summary of what we found:

  1. There is an extensive range of both test scores and teacher salaries across the country.
  2. States that pay their teachers more tend to see better results on the ACT.
  3. Improvement on test scores builds a more competitive college application.

Methodology

We used two distinct statistics in our research: NEA’s estimated state averages of public school teacher salaries in the 2018-19 school year, and the state averages of SAT and ACT composite scores from the 2018 graduating class via each organization’s annual reports.

Our study includes all 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. No two places are the same, both in average scores on standardized tests and teacher compensation. But is there a relationship between these differences? We think so.

Overall Trend

American teachers earned an estimated average salary of $61,730 in the 2018-19 school year. This includes elementary, middle, and high school teachers in public institutions. That average is slightly above the 2017-18 school year, measured at $60,477. However, when price inflation is factored in, the average teacher salary has decreased by 4.5% since 2009.

The 2018 national average ACT score was 20.8. The ACT is comprised of 4 sections: Math, English, Reading, and Science. Scores on these 4 sections are scaled and averaged to a composite score out of 36 possible points. Only a tiny fraction of students achieve a 36; out of almost 2 million test takers in 2018, fewer than 4,000 nailed the perfect score.

As it turns out, the states with higher average public school teacher salaries tend to see higher average ACT scores as well. We can see this trend reflected in the higher-paying states like Massachusetts ($82,042 average wage, 25.5 average ACT score) and New Jersey ($70,212, 23.7), as compared to South Carolina ($50,395, 18.3) or New Mexico ($47,826, 19.4). The trend in the linear pattern of these two datasets shows that every $5,000 increase in teacher compensation on a state level produces an improvement in statewide ACT scores by about 0.7.

Participation in the ACT varies widely across the country. Some states require this test for graduating seniors and therefore have 100% completion. Others, with ACT testing participation as low as 7%, see higher demand for the SAT. When removing the 9 states with less than 25% ACT participation, teacher salaries and ACT scores by state correlate with an R-value of 0.73. This leads us to believe there is a strong positive relationship between teacher salary and ACT score.

A few states defy this pattern. Colorado, for example, achieves the 9th-best average ACT score in the nation (23.9) without making the top half of average teacher salary ($53,301). On the opposite end, Alaska pays its public school teachers the 8th-highest average salaries in the country ($70,277) but doesn’t crack the top 25 in ACT score (20.8). Take a look at where your state ranks in the chart below.

Salary Tiers

To compare this data more holistically, we put U.S. states into 3 groups of average public school teacher salaries. That gave us 7 states in the “low” tier of under $50,000 per year, 28 in “medium” ($50,000-$60,000 per year), and 16 in “high” (over $60,000 per year).

We used averages of these groups to compare them to one another. The result was significant: We found that the average ACT score in the high salary tier (23.52) is 14% higher than medium (20.69) and 17% higher than low (20.13). Here’s why these numbers are significant.

In 2018, a score of 20 on the ACT put you ahead of 52% of the nationwide graduating class. A score of 23 put you ahead of 69%. An increase of this amount to your score would put you over another 17% of the test-taking population, which equates to about 325,000 more students in the graduating class. That makes a big difference if you’re applying to a competitive school or scholarship, especially considering the national trends of declining college acceptance rates and rising tuition costs.

Another interesting statistic surfaced through normalizing ACT and SAT scores to comparable values. This helped us measure how each state performed on the two tests relative to one another. To do this, we adjusted the scores to percentages of the full range, which gave us values between 0 and 1 for each state’s tests. We found that 5 out of the 7 states in the low salary tier performed better on the SAT, while 14 of the 16 states in the high salary tier performed better on the ACT.

State Differences

On a state level, scores and salaries both vary widely. Connecticut has an average ACT score of 25.6, while Nevada averaged 17.7. By our previous calculation, about 750,000 students scored between those two numbers. Ironically, the high school with the best ACT score in the country is located in Nevada! Check out our report on the other top high schools by test scores.

Public school teacher salaries show a similarly broad range across the country. Mississippi is estimated to pay its teachers an average of $45,574, while New York averages $85,889. That’s almost 2 Mississippi teachers for the salary of one in the Empire State!

Where Does Your State Rank?

 

State ACT Score (2018) Avg. Salary (18-19)
Score Rank Salary Rank Avg. Rank
Massachusetts 25.5 2 $82,042 3 2.5
New York 24.5 4 $85,889 1 2.5
Connecticut 25.6 1 $76,465 5 3
Rhode Island 24.2 6 $67,040 11 8.5
District of Columbia 23.6 14 $78,477 4 9
California 22.7 16 $82,282 2 9
Michigan 24.4 5 $61,825 15 10
Illinois 23.9 10 $66,600 12 11
New Jersey 23.7 13 $70,212 9 11
New Hampshire 25.1 3 $58,146 20 11.5
Vermont 24.1 7 $61,027 16 11.5
Pennsylvania 23.5 15 $68,141 10 12.5
Maryland 22.5 18 $70,463 7 12.5
Delaware 23.8 12 $62,308 14 13
Washington 22.2 20 $72,965 6 13
Maine 24 8 $54,974 24 16
Alaska 20.8 27 $70,277 8 17.5
Oregon 21.3 26 $64,385 13 19.5
Colorado 23.9 9 $53,301 32 20.5
Iowa 21.8 22 $58,140 21 21.5
Virginia 23.9 11 $52,466 33 22
Minnesota 21.3 25 $58,221 19 22
Georgia 21.4 24 $57,137 23 23.5
Ohio 20.3 32 $57,799 22 27
Indiana 22.5 17 $50,937 38 27.5
Texas 20.6 28 $54,155 27 27.5
Wyoming 20 38 $58,618 18 28
Idaho 22.3 19 $50,757 41 30
Nebraska 20.1 35 $54,506 25 30
North Dakota 20.3 31 $53,434 30 30.5
Wisconsin 20.5 29 $51,453 36 32.5
Kentucky 20.2 34 $53,434 31 32.5
Montana 20 37 $54,034 28 32.5
Hawaii 18.9 48 $59,757 17 32.5
South Dakota 21.9 21 $48,786 47 34
Kansas 21.6 23 $49,800 46 34.5
Utah 20.4 30 $50,342 43 36.5
Tennessee 19.6 40 $51,714 35 37.5
North Carolina 19.1 47 $53,975 29 38
Oklahoma 19.3 43 $52,412 34 38.5
Nevada 17.7 51 $54,280 26 38.5
Arkansas 19.4 41 $51,019 37 39
Missouri 20 36 $50,064 44 40
West Virginia 20.3 33 $47,681 50 41.5
Louisiana 19.2 45 $50,923 39 42
Alabama 19.1 46 $50,810 40 43
Florida 19.9 39 $48,395 48 43.5
Arizona 19.2 44 $49,892 45 44.5
New Mexico 19.4 42 $47,826 49 45.5
South Carolina 18.3 50 $50,395 42 46
Mississippi 18.6 49 $45,574 51 50

 

College Acceptance

Colleges and universities commonly report the 25th and 75th percentiles for the standardized test scores of their enrolled students. These metrics neither guarantee nor disqualify admission for new applicants, but rather communicate a relative idea of what they seek. Often, high-school students use these numbers to help identify their “safety” and “reach” schools, projecting their likelihood of acceptance if they were to apply.

Achieving a school’s 25th percentile puts you ahead of a good chunk of their enrolled students; however, it also means that more often than not, an accepted student has a higher score. An ACT score of 23 would put you in the 25th percentile the University of Alabama and the University of Portland. A score of 30 makes the 25th percentile at schools like Dartmouth College and Tulane University.

Achieving a school’s 75th percentile means that you’re ahead of most of its matriculated students. For more sought-after colleges, this bar is often set far above state averages. At schools like Adelphi University and Siena College, one would need a 27 on the ACT to make the mark, which is above the mean of all states. Ivy League schools such as Harvard and Columbia start at a 35.

So, how does this relate to teacher pay? Since states with higher-paid teachers generally see higher ACT score results, their students will more often make the cutoffs for these percentiles. Let’s flesh this out in examples.

An average ACT score in Missouri, who is estimated to pay their teachers $50,064 on average, is 20. According to a recent survey of 356 popular US colleges and universities, an average Missouri student would score in the 25th percentile of 23 of the schools and in the 75th percentile of 2. In a state like Rhode Island, who pays their teachers $67,040 and achieves an ACT score of 24.2, an average student would make the 25th percentile of 165 schools and the 75th percentile of 12 schools.

Many elements go into the complex decision of college admission, but nearly every school in the country cites standardized tests as a contributing factor. And since we know paying teachers more results in higher scores on standardized tests, it’s not hard to see the link between these measurements.

Other Factors

Though standardized tests are taken by many students across the United States, they’re not a requirement nationwide. Average test scores tend to be higher in states that don’t require them; when a test is optional, the field of test-takers is skewed to those who are motivated to take it, rather than those who have to. In 2018, only 24 out of the 50 states required at least one of the United States’ two prevalent standardized tests, the ACT or the SAT, for college admission.

Many other factors affect standardized test scores, like the availability of test-taking resources, ethnicity, poverty, and other important socioeconomic factors. The same goes for teacher pay on the state level, including variables such as professional experience, level of education, and cost of living.

Conclusions

Can we say outright that you’ll get into a better college or university if you can get your school to pay your teacher more money? No. Are we implying that you should take one test over another based on how your teachers are paid? Not that either.

What we’re pointing out is a few noticeable differences and trends in the American education system. We think these trends deserve the attention of the private organizations that administer national standardized tests and of the local and state institutions designed to support our teachers. Do you?

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