Izumi: ‘Masters Degrees Don’t Make Better Teachers’

“Taxpayers should not dole out a single dollar for teacher degrees that do not improve student outcomes,” says education scholar Lance Izumi in a new dispatch.

“A new report by the National Council on Teacher Quality has found that 90 percent of large school districts pay teachers more for master’s degrees, ‘despite the evidence that master’s degree premiums are bad policy for almost everyone.'”

“School districts have assumed that obtaining a master’s degree is a valid proxy for teacher effectiveness.  It is not.”

The Public Policy Institute of California found in its last report on education, “Results from the 2024 Smarter Balanced assessments (SBAC) show that nearly half (47%) of all students met or exceeded state standards in English Language Arts, while about a third (36%) did so in math.”

While the PPIC appeared to put a positive spin on these results, the reality is that less than half of all students met state standards in English Language Arts, and only 1/3 did so in math. And yet the failing teachers with Masters Degrees get paid more because… they have a Masters Degree. It’s effectively a gift/concession to the California Teachers Association labor union.

To quote a respected political scholar, “Well, la-di-frickin-da!”

In 2022, the Globe reported:

In a brazenly political move, California Superintendent of Instruction Tony Thurmond and the California Department of Education announced they would not release statewide student test scores until after the November election, the Globe reported in September 2022.

“If California’s state test results mirror the recent implosion in national test scores, then it is likely that the state’s scores show a catastrophic drop in student achievement with massive learning losses in math and English,” Lance Izumi, Senior Director of Education Studies at the Pacific Research Institute told the Globe.

Sunday night at 10:06pm, California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a press release claiming just released educational assessment data shows that California performed better than most other states and the nation from 2019-22 on the National Assessment of Educational Progress data.

Except fewer than half of California students met the state standard in English, and only one-third of students met statewide standards for mathematics.

Izumi, Senior Director of the Center for Education at the Pacific Research Institute, and author of the 2024 PRI book The Great Classroom Collapse: Teachers, Students, and Parents Expose the Collapse of Learning in America’s Schools, says “as school districts across the country run deficits and lament budget cuts, they continue to spend huge amounts on practices that fail to improve student achievement, such as paying teachers more if they obtain a master’s degree.”

“It is true that effective teachers have a significant impact on student outcomes,” Izumi continues. “As the Institute of Education Sciences has noted, ‘Effective teachers improve student outcomes, both academic and behavioral.’”

Where the real disparity occurs is “teachers with 25 years of experience see a staggering $62,342 more in a single year.”

Izumi asks “what do students get for all that extra spending?

“Not better achievement results,” he says, speaking the truth that many parents and families know.

“When school officials complain about funding gaps and beg for more support, the public should ask if their tax dollars are going to programs and practices that do not give real bang for the buck,” Izumi says. “Taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize failure.”

“With federal COVID relief funding about to dry up and public-school enrollment cratering, district finances are in freefall.  Los Angeles Unified School District is looking at a deficit of $94.5 million, while the Chicago Public Schools is facing a mountainous $734 million deficit.”

Even as the bad news is everywhere, a new report by the National Council on Teacher Quality found that 90 percent of large school districts pay teachers more for master’s degrees, “despite the evidence that master’s degree premiums are bad policy for almost everyone.”

Mediocre degrees from government-funded indoctrination centers of higher education do not make quality teachers.

Boom.

Did I say “Boom?”

Read the full article at The American Spectator