Mark Weber, aka Jersey Jazzman, recently completed a study of teachers in New Jersey. As you may know, Weber teaches in the Garden State, and he recently completed his doctoral studies. When he is blogging, he is Jersey Jazzman. When he produces studies, he is Mark Weber.
Highlights:
• Teachers in New Jersey make substantially less than similarly educated workers. Further, teacher benefits – pensions and health care – do not appear to make up for the gap in wages.
• Much of the gap in teacher wages can be explained by the gender wage gap; however, college-educated women still see a decline in pay when they choose to teach.
• Teacher salaries tend to be lower in less-affluent school districts.
• New Jersey’s teachers don’t look much like the state’s student population: teachers are overwhelmingly white and female, and there is little indication the state’s teaching workforce is becoming more diverse.

Is anyone surprised? Isn’t NJ supposed to be one of those states that pays its teachers fairly well?
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It might be interesting to explore the role played by school district attorneys in the disruption of successful schools, so that schools can eventually be categorized as “low performing”. In my experience, attorneys have been instrumental in implementing policies which increasingly limit educational opportunities in the name of loss management.
Just a thought.
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