Poor kids in Georgia are more likely to be taught by first-year teachers than richer kids are.
That's according to a series of federal reports on how teachers are distributed in schools in Georgia and other states.
The report found that a greater proportion of teachers in Georgia’s highest-poverty schools are first-year teachers, compared to the lowest-poverty schools.
First-year teachers are generally less effective than more experienced teachers. And because teachers' pay is mostly based on years of experience, teachers in high-poverty schools make less than their peers in more affluent schools on average.
Those trends hold along racial lines too: Georgia schools with the most nonwhite students are also have more brand-new and lower-paid teachers.
The federal reports, which echo findings from piles of previous research, are part of federal efforts to encourage states to improve their teacher workforces and ensure that poor and nonwhite students have great teachers. States must submit improvement plans to the U.S. Department of Education this spring.
The Georgia Department of Education has just begun work responsive to the reports, spokeswoman Meghan Frick said.
“The department has been working for some time, however, to deepen the pool of highly qualified applicants in all content areas and throughout the state. Ultimately, districts hire teachers, so our role is to support them and provide information and resources,” she said.
Among the report’s key findings for Georgia:
- About 6 percent of teachers in the highest-poverty schools are in their first year, compared to about 4 percent in the lowest-poverty schools.
- Their average salary is about $48,000 compared to about $51,000 in the lowest-poverty schools.
- In Georgia and neighboring states, more teachers in schools with the fewest nonwhite students are absent for more than 10 days than teachers in schools with the most nonwhite students.
- The average salary in Georgia's highest-poverty schools is higher than the regional average. However, Georgia has one of the biggest salary gaps between teachers in the highest- and lowest-poverty schools.
The federal reports, which are based on 2011-12 federal data, don't directly measure teacher quality. Instead, they look at things like teacher years of experience, absences and salary. At least one state—Vermont—has noted that the data may include errors.
Frick said, “We have noticed that the data is several years old, and we will work with more current data as we move forward with these plans.”
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