Should master’s degrees matter? |
On Board Online • May 23, 2011
By Edwin C. Darden
New York State requires teachers to obtain a master’s degree to earn permanent certification, and school districts in New York and across the country typically offer higher pay to teachers with a master’s degree. However, two of the most influential people in K-12 education – U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan and billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist Bill Gates – are among those who contend paying premiums for master’s degrees is irrational and ought to be stopped.
In a November 2010 speech to the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., Duncan said, “Districts currently pay about $8 billion each year to teachers because they have master’s degrees, even though there is little evidence teachers with master’s degrees improve student achievement more than other teachers – with the possible exception of teachers who earn master’s in math and science.”
The same opinion has been voiced by Gates, who gives millions to public schools through his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Gates told the Council of Chief State School Officers in November 2010, “My own state of Washington has an average salary bump of nearly $11,000 for a master’s degree – and more than half of our teachers get it. That’s more than $300 million every year that doesn’t help kids.”
School boards must find ways to be more fiscally prudent, and the key area to address is teacher pay, according to Gates. “When we need higher student achievement on lower budgets, we’re obliged to review all the money we’re spending and ask: does this buy better student achievement?”
NYS spends $1.1 billion to reward master’s degrees
Nearly half – 48 percent – of public school teachers in this country had a master’s degree or above in 2008, and nearly every one of them got a bonus of between $1,423 and $10,777 per year, according to a study by the Seattle-based University of Washington.
Nationally, districts spent $8.6 billion on master’s degrees. In New York, the figure in 2009 was $1.1 billion paid out annually or approximately 2.59 percent of the total federal, state and local dollars spent on New York education that year. Empire State teachers with master’s degrees earned 35 percent more salary, the equivalent of $416 per student.
While no state required a master’s degree to start teaching as of March 2010, several states require that teachers begin working toward that degree soon after signing their first teaching contract. In Massachusetts, Ohio and New York, all elementary and secondary teachers are required to complete their master’s degrees in education within five years after signing their first teaching contract.
New York, Massachusetts and Ohio each require teachers to hold a master’s degree for permanent classroom certification, which is why about 78 percent of New York state teachers hold a master’s degree – the highest in the nation.
No link found between master’s and teaching quality
A number of studies have sought to quantify the relationship, if any, between teachers’ education level and student learning. The evidence to date suggests there is little or no link.
The National Council on Teacher Quality published a booklet called “Increasing the Odds: How Good Policies Can Yield Better Teachers.”
It included the following conclusions:
- Some studies have even shown that master’s degrees have a slightly negative impact on student achievement.
- Very few studies diverge from this consensus; the findings of those that have are inconclusive. For instance, one study found that having a master’s degree modestly improved student achievement in grades 1 through 7 but had no impact in grades 8 through 12.
- Only one study looked at the impact of elementary teachers earning master’s degrees in a subject area, and it found no effect.
“The overall effect of graduate education on teacher productivity is likely close to zero,” according to Heather C. Hill, an associate professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, who conducted a metastudy (a study of studies) on the topic.
When Duncan and Gates started repeating the same sentiments, teacher colleges cried foul. Once again, teachers are being unfairly characterized as effective or ineffective based on standardized tests, according to Sharon Robinson, chief executive officer of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. In a Dec. 2010 article on her organization’s website, Robinson wrote, “The research is so inconclusive that I really do wonder why we have such a bold statement” by Duncan.
Are graduate schools the problem?
It seems odd to question the impact of a master’s degree. In most other fields it is an article of faith that a professional with post-graduate education will be more knowledgeable, more proficient, and better qualified to perform the essential tasks of a job. A typical program focuses on pedagogy (the science of teaching), brain research, classroom management techniques, parent engagement, education laws and policies and more.
Although a teacher can begin his or her career in New York State with just a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree is required for permanent certification. Asked about the rationale for this requirement, Commissioner of Education David Steiner said, “We believe that teaching is a highly demanding profession and that a master’s degree is highly appropriate as a requirement when designed with those goals as paramount.”
Acknowledging that “the research that shows poor correlation between holding a master’s degree and effective teaching,” Steiner said this merely suggests that “we have some work to do” to “re-tool our programs” in colleges of education.
“Our goal is to work with our colleagues in teacher preparation to ensure that master’s degree programs truly prepare teachers for the realities of the classroom and equip them with the complex knowledge and skills needed to raise student performance,” he said. He noted that the Board of Regents has approved new teacher standards and SED is developing performance-based assessments and content standards for new teachers. “It is also why we are piloting clinically-rich teacher preparation programs that will emphasize the preparation of teachers in a school setting,” he said.
Teachers colleges have long been criticized as underperforming. Education schools are often treated by universities as “cash cows,” according to a scathing 142-page report in 2006 by Arthur Levine, former president of Columbia University’s Teachers College. In “Educating School Teachers,” Levine said some programs are rigorous with vibrant faculty, high expectations for graduates and practical, hands-on experiences. Other education schools dabble in the theoretical.
Eric Hanushek, an influential thinker at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, notes that graduate schools of education and teachers will both profit as long as the master’s degree rewarded with pay differentials, regardless of the rigor and quality of the programs. “There’s a relationship between education schools and teachers that is not particularly healthy,” he said.
Into the future
The renewed focus on the master’s degree arrives amid two intersecting trends. First, measuring teacher quality is a hot topic in public policy discussions. Second, states and local school systems are battling a budget crunch that forces responsible board members to question long-held assumptions and aggressively seek places to cut.
Both put pressure on the concept of paying premiums for master’s degrees. But even Bill Gates has wondered aloud whether change is politically possible. “Of course, restructuring pay systems is like kicking a beehive,” he said.
Teacher unions would surely oppose any attempt to curtail or stop such pay differentials. Assuming the change could be negotiated, there could be unintended effects, such as discouraging more individuals from entering, staying in or switching to the teaching profession; or causing someone to forego the cost and not reach his or her full potential.
On the other hand, it is the obligation of school board members to ensure taxpayers get a good return on their investments in personnel. The sound conclusion is that caution, and more social science research, is needed before this sea-change in education is adopted by school boards as a new way of doing business.
Edwin C. Darden is an attorney and principal of EdAdvocacy, a consulting firm near Washington, D.C. Contact him at edwin@edadvocacy.com. A longer version of this article appears in NYSSBA’s Forecast newsletter, downloadable at www.nyssba.org/Forecast.