Michigan’s public school establishment and teachers unions have long resisted efforts to reward superior teachers with higher pay. Many school districts have defied or undermined a state law that requires some form of merit pay for above-average teachers.
A nonprofit called The Education Trust-Midwest generally promotes views and policies that are closely aligned with status quo public school interests. But in a new report, the group says, “Many studies indicate that increased pay . . . improves teacher retention,” and that when combined with other workplace improvements, it “increases the likelihood of hiring effective educators.”
The document includes an anonymous quote from a person at the Hope Academy, a Grand Rapids school, to reinforce the claim:
“If you keep losing teachers because you can’t pay teachers equitably, you will have poor or low-quality instruction as a result. Guess what? It's systemic. The issue of teacher pay is not going to go away. The state plays a key role in cultivating and developing a climate where teacher pay remains at the forefront of the educational process. If not, we will not have a strong system where teachers will want to come and stay.”
According to year-end performance evaluations that school districts are required to perform for every instructor, Michigan has no shortage of excellent teachers.
In 2018-19 (the most recent full year of teacher evaluation data), 41% of the state’s teachers were rated as “highly effective” while 58% received the second-highest rating of “effective.”
Just 1% of teachers were rated as “minimally effective,” and the number in the lowest category of “ineffective” (just 201) is so small that it computes statistically at 0%.
From 2014-15 to 2018-19, the percentage of teachers in each year rated as “highly effective” was 42%, 42%, 39%, 40% and 41%.
Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.