KERNERSVILLE (March 6, 2024) – Stephanie Wallace is one masterful teacher.
Wallace, who teaches English and Teacher Cadets at East Forsyth High School, has an amazing 180 former students who are teaching in classrooms across North Carolina, and several in other states.
“Truly a work of the heart,” she calls it.
A former NC Teaching Fellow at UNC Greensboro, she is in her 24th year teaching. Yet in our latest installment of Teachers Talk, she tells us how under the state’s pay schedule, she gets a raise only every five years after Year 15.
“I haven’t had a raise or a cost-of-living increase in a minute,” she says.
With a college student and a high school student of her own, that makes it difficult for her to support her family. Because they receive no additional pay for earning a master’s degree, she says, many teachers leave North Carolina for other states.
“We just have a teacher pay mess in North Carolina,” she says.
Yet Wallace still encourages her students to become teachers.
“We have to have a really hard conversation when all they tell me is, ‘Ms. Wallace, I hear I’m not gonna make any money,’” she says.
“They shouldn’t have to seek advanced degrees or have side jobs. I teach for NC Virtual Public (Schools) and I work at Chili’s on the weekends in order to be able to close the gap in my income and take care of my 20-year-old, my 17-year-old, college expenses, high-school expenses, all those things.
“Teachers should not have to work multiple jobs to be able to afford their classroom…
“That’s not OK. We can do better, North Carolina.”
Ms. Wallace later recorded another video to elaborate on her remarks:
Michael says
I wanted to come back home to North Carolina when I started teaching 15 years ago, but even my mother who worked in the DOE for the state told me it was a mistake. I was much better off staying in Alabama where I was living and the the payscales were much better. Alabama pays for advanced degrees, everyone is guaranteed step raises every 3 years, plus the legislature has been pretty good about giving us small raises yearly in the budget without raising our insurance and retirement contributions.
hazel Carroll says
amen. go to the polls and vote
David Fortney says
Inaccurate reporting. According to govsalaries.com, Ms. Wallace received $69,449, $71,333, and $76,094 in 2020, 2021, and 2022, respectively. Most recently, the General Assembly approved a 7% increase for teachers on average. While veteran teachers received less than new ones, all received some increase.
It’s unfortunate the best and most effective teachers, as it would appear includes Ms. Wallace, receive the same pay and increases as the most ineffective teachers. Whether or not a teacher has an advanced degree shouldn’t matter – his/her effectiveness in the classroom should.
R. Bader says
Measuring effectiveness in the classroom is an interesting problem.
First, how do we define “effectiveness”? Is it the percent of students performing at grade level, or is it the delta between where they started and where they ended the year using standardized tests? Should we measure performance in all subjects or just “reading, writing and arithmetic”? Do we care about other important measures of success – interpersonal and behavioral skills?
Are we assuming a standard measurement across all school systems? How should we interpret the variability among and between schools? among and between semesters or school years?
Teachers are expected to maintain a reasonable level of control of the class. Some students are more difficult than others, and having a class with one or more disruptive students impacts everyone. Unless a child crosses certain lines they cannot be removed from the classroom, and teachers cannot solve all problems that cause a child to be disruptive (hunger, home life, etc). If a teacher must devote time and attention to manage a disruptive student, it will come at expense of the teacher’s attention others or time to instruct. Can we identify the level of behavioral challenges a teacher must contend with and adjust teaching effectiveness measurements appropriately?
Some children come prepared for school, have all of their basic needs met, and have parents who are able to help and support them with their academic work. Some children come to school from a home life that includes addiction, or lack adequate nutrition and housing, or have parents who are not capable of helping them with their work or who do not support them. Some students are more gifted academically than others. Teachers cannot compensate for all social ills. When measuring teacher effectiveness, what metrics and adjustments should we use to address the uneven distribution of student readiness and support?
In some schools, the levels of support are very good. Teachers have access to the resources (up-to-date books, materials, funding for field trip opportunities, as well as professional development funding). The PTA includes engaged parents who are able to raise additional funds for the school. In other schools, administration is not so good and resources are not as available; parents are not as engaged and supplemental financial resources are not available. These resource discrepancies impact student learning, but there is not an established rate of investment to achieve additional points on a standardized test. Teacher effectiveness can be enhanced or limited by resource availability. How do we incorporate this fact into measurements?
Naturally, some schools have top-rate administrators, but some have poorly performing administrators. Poor leadership results in less optimal performance in any organization and a toxic workplace disadvantages those whose performance is being measured.
It is not an easy problem to solve because our approach is inherently flawed. We overuse standardized tests to determine whether students are learning and look for easy, quantitative ways to answer complex qualitative questions. We prefer to make decisions based on “objective” measurements rather than looking at the complete picture to assess and reward performance. We assume a normal distribution of scores and performance on datasets that are not normally distributed and make pay and performance rating decisions accordingly.
Are their great teachers and poor ones? We all know that answer is yes. Can teacher performance be evaluated? Certainly. Can it be fairly evaluated without considering the complexities of each situation? No. Is it fair to make compensation decisions that do not consider this? Clearly not.
When we talk about having pay scales based on teacher effectiveness, we need to think hard about what that means, how it can be measured and implemented, and whether our approach fully and reasonably captures the realities of teaching in our society and the outcomes we want. I fear that many assertions of the desirability of this approach are based on assumptions about teacher quality, the value of experience, and a lack of deep reflection on the methods of measurement and the desired outcomes.
Chris says
David Fortney, this is not accurate salary information.
(1) Those figures do not represent her salary. As GovSalaries.Com says on the page, “”*Information may include where available: salary, bonuses, benefits, retirement contributions, pensions, and other financial data.” So, they explicit acknowledge that what they call “Salary” includes more than salary (go figure).
(2) Even considering the Forsyth County Schools teacher pay schedule that includes a local supplement (see https://www.wsfcs.k12.nc.us/cms/lib/NC01001395/Centricity/Domain/26/DOC092122-09212022161713.pdf), a master’s level teacher with 24 years of experience would earn no more than $66,370.
(3) The legislative increase for teachers with more than 15 years of experience was 3.6%. Given an inflation rate of 6.5% in 2022 and 3.4% in 2023 (see the Current US Inflation Rates at https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/current-inflation-rates/) it’s not generous and doesn’t add up to a COLA.
(4) As for paying for education and experience, as someone who has hired many people over the years, like anyone in business I would expect to pay a higher salary to a well-educated, experienced candidate more than a candidate with a lower level of training and experience. Experience matters. Education matters. Advanced study matters. Folks talk about wanting state government to run “like a business”. Well, that’s business.
(5) Given that NC teacher pay is in the lowest 5 states in the US, we really shouldn’t argue about whether teachers are getting raises and how big they are anyway since the numbers we’re talking about are too small. Recruiting and retaining talent requires competitive salaries. Talented people working in state government and in education are committed to the mission and work for substandard wages for a variety of reasons, so I’m not saying that current employees aren’t good, but creating a stable base of talented employees requires incentivizing them to stay and grow in their positions.
Higher Ed Works says
Thank you for your comment. We have shared the feedback with Ms. Wallace and she has recorded another video in response. You can access it here: https://youtu.be/JdAabu0cMbk
Brian Regan says
Set up a 501c3 where individuals donate for bonuses to their choice of teachers producing excellent student outcomes in STEM, History and the classical Arts. A hybrid go-fund-me above and outside the tax burden. Since all teachers are relatively underpaid make available for both public and private school teachers.
Lori Cooke says
I happen to be a graduate of East Forsyth (class of 82). I really feel bad for the teachers in our state. I had some fantastic teachers at East that helped me go on to NCSU and earn a B.S. degree. I also sympathize with you, as I am also an employee of the state. The pay is not nearly what I’d be making in the industry, but I stay because of the cheap health care plan and the vacation/sick time being good. I really hope you can make it work and not be forced to leave teaching. That would be very unfortunate. Good luck to you!