Some Master’s Degrees Are More Equal Than Others
In an indication of just how far the education debate has shifted in the last 15 years or so, prominent people are actually questioning the widespread practice of paying teachers more money for getting a master’s degree. The question set off California Teachers Association President David Sanchez:
”It is not easy for a teacher to go back and get a master’s degree,” he said. “You do it for a reason, not just to get higher pay,” including getting information about new teaching techniques. When he earned his master’s degree, he recalled, “I learned so much more about teaching.”
Maybe it’s because Sanchez got his master’s from the University of La Verne, which is one of the top colleges in the country. But there are a lot of degree mills out there, and prominent university programs that are no better than degree mills.
When I looked at this issue way back in 1999, I discovered that student NAEP scores did increase if the teacher had a master’s degree, but the effect varied widely from state to state. I concluded:
While students who had teachers with master’s degrees did outscore those who did not, the difference in more than half the states was insignificant. Indeed, in two states, South Carolina and Wyoming, students of teachers with bachelor’s degrees outperformed those with better educated teachers. This leaves us with a lot of question, mostly concerning the relationship of those degrees to classroom practices. And on the opposite end, we must ask why Maryland’s teachers with master’s got so much more from their students than did their less educated counterparts.
A worthy subject for additional research would be to survey those teachers with graduate degrees in the extraordinary states – Maryland, South Carolina and Wyoming for starters – and find out as much as possible about their master’s programs. What did they major in? From where did they get their degree? How much of the coursework was related to the subject matter they teach in school?
Perhaps we should not be encouraging elementary level teachers to get master’s degrees. Pay scales tied to other professional development or academic programs might be more beneficial to both teachers and students. It certainly would be worthwhile to find which graduate programs are producing the best results in the classroom, and then promote those among teachers in various ways.
This debate is long overdue, but let’s be circumspect about ditching additional master’s pay entirely. A little quality control over what training we pay for can go a long way.
November 29th, 2010 at 12:54
Pennsylvania requires teachers to have a minimum of 24 graduate credits to obtain their level 2 certificate which much be done in 6 years. Otherwise they pull your teaching certificate and you can’t teach. They also require 6 graduate credits every 5 years so it is not surprising that teachers with more 6 years have a graduate degree.