Teachers boost salaries with strategic compensation programs
Performance, diversity and high-needs areas equal opportunity for educators
Author: TeachDFW Team
Performance, diversity and high-needs areas equal opportunity for educators
Author: TeachDFW Team
You may have already heard that the average starting salary for teachers in the DFW region is $52,105, which is over $20,000 higher than what more than half of respondents to a McKinsey survey believed the starting teacher salary would be. But did you know that in some districts in the DFW region, there are teachers who earning more than $95,000?
This advance in teacher salaries stems from districts that are adopting strategic compensation models.
As opposed to traditional, tenure-based compensation, strategic compensation gives teachers the opportunity to advance much more quickly in their salary over the course of their careers.
Strategic compensation models come in varying forms. Some more common examples include pay-for-performance systems (teachers receive increased pay or bonuses according to their measured effectiveness) and market-based pay systems (teachers in high-needs schools or hard-to-staff subjects receive stipends).
Despite the many ways that strategic compensation models can be packaged, they all share one goal: to reward effective teachers. Although no compensation model is perfect, we applaud districts for recognizing and rewarding excellent teachers, as teachers are the most important contributing factor to student achievement.
Here, we break down a few different strategic compensation methods in the DFW area that reward great teachers!
Compensation is understandably an important aspect of the teaching profession to consider as you embark on your career journey.
Because many of these compensation models reward effective teacher performance, it’s helpful to think about how to set yourself up for success in the profession. We’re here to help!
