by their impact on lifetime incomes of their students!
We are grateful to Eric Hanushek, a member of Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and associated with the Koret Task Force on K-12 Education.
As reported by Mr. Hanushek in the April 6, 2011 edition of Education Week, teacher performance not only improves testing achievements, their effects might be even more appreciated by the students whose lifetime incomes are greatly enhanced. Essentially, students who score higher in standard math, reading and science, earn more throughout their lifetimes.
Let’s summarize how good grades make for fatter paychecks.
“Somebody who graduates at the 85th percentile on the achievement distribution can be expected to earn 13 percent to 20 percent more than the average student. This applies to every year throughout a person’s working life, yielding a difference in present value of earnings of $150,000 to $230,000, on average.”
Mr. Hanshek goes on further to conservatively estimate the economic impact of a good (or bad) teacher. Here’s how teachers can help improve the economy.
- A teacher in the top 15 percent of quality can in a single year add more than $20,000 to a student’s lifetime earnings.
- That impact holds for each student in the class; a class of 20 students will contribute a total of $400,000 a year in value to the economy.
The other side of the proposition also holds true, that a teacher in the bottom 15 percentile will negatively impact the earnings of students…reversing dollar for dollar the financial impact made by students of the best teachers.
Facts do indeed help to soften the ongoing emotional discussions regarding school performance and student achievement.
Please refer to the April 6, 2011 edition of Education Week for the complete text of Mr. Hanshek’s article. www.edweek.org.
-Roger Melanson