While teacher salaries continued to increase on average during the recent economic downturn, they did so at a much slower pace, according to a new study from the Washington-based National Council on Teacher Quality.
The NCTQ study was based on salary schedules from 2007-08 (when the recession began) to 2011-12 for 41 of the 50 largest public school districts in the United States. In analyzing the data, NCTQ looked at annual adjustments and step increases for accumulating a year of experience. (The analysis did not include increases for earning advanced degrees or credit hours.)
Between 2007-08 and 2008-09, the study found, teachers received an average 3.6 percent pay increase. However, over the next three years, raises totaled between one-half and one-third that amount. The average pay raise hit a low point of 1.1 percent between 2009-10 and 2010-11, as indicated in this chart from the report.
