Teacher Salaries

My principal scheduled a site visit for leaders in our building to Boston, Massachusetts. We visited Brooke Charter School East Boston, a school that is significantly out performing local public schools. For example, 100% of Brooke East Boston’s 8th graders scored proficient or advanced on the PARRC algebra assessment and 89% of all 3rd-8th graders scored proficient or advanced on the math PARRC, making Brooke East Boston the highest achieving charter school in the state. The most unique element of Brooke's model is the teacher pay scale. The school pays its master teachers up to $120,000 per year, which is all possible because of private donations and a hefty Massachusetts per pupil budget. While the research is not completely clear, some studies have shown that increasing teacher base salaries can lead to high new teacher retention rates (Hendricks, 2014). However, Brooke East Boston believes higher salaries are key to increasing retention and quality. The assistant principal noted the retention rate is 95% and it feels great to retain teachers after investing so many hours of training into them. This was in stark comparison to Atlanta Public School's teacher salaries. It was so fascinating that a teacher at Brooke may make more than his or her direct manager. After talking with Brooke teachers it was clear that they are not teaching for the money, but it is a great incentive to become a master at their craft.