| What do teacher salaries tell? |
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Although it seems obvious that the best teachers will opt to work at schools offering higher salaries, teaching is one of few professions in which salary is not based on performance. Schools and districts develop pay scales so that all first-year teachers in a school make the same amount, no matter what their students achieve. Many teachers who work hard and perform at the highest levels are not motivated by money.
On the other hand, higher teacher salaries draw better applicants. Therefore, the federal government is trying to find ways to attract high-quality teachers to the country's lowest performing schools by subsidizing salaries, forgiving educational loans or offering to pay for graduate degrees. |