Comparing Educational Data Across State Lines

Using Data to Make Educated Decisions:
Comparing Educational Data Across State Lines
Unlike many other industrialized nations, the educational system of the United States exists in a relatively piecemeal form. There is a great deal of variation not simply between states in terms of teachers’ salaries and student test scores but also in terms of conditions which make it even more challenging to compare such datasets. This can be extremely challenging in the modern era, where evidence-based research and statistics are often used to make major educational decisions. Since the passage of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), statistical benchmarks have been used to compare school districts, despite the admitted challenges of doing so; teachers themselves may attempt to compare datasets when deciding the best area of the nation to pursue certification and to teach.
For example, in regards to teachers’ salaries, cost of living can be difficult to compare from state to state. As noted by Iasevoli (2017), the states that pay teachers the highest salaries usually also have the highest costs of living. While the fact that the average teacher salary in California is $72,050, this amount is actually below the amount needed to “live comfortably,” and according to the state’s Department of Education, the starting salary for a teacher is around $40,000 per year (Iasevoli, 2017, par.3). In short, it may be many years for a debt-ridden young teacher to have the financial means to pay off high student loans working at considerably below what he or she would need to earn to have a middle-class lifestyle of a college-educated professional. And the highest salary to which he or she could aspire was not very high at all, considering that teachers cannot expect to earn beyond a certain threshold, regardless of any increases in the cost of living.
Many states, such as Oklahoma and Arizona, often attempt to use salary increases as a way to improve overall student performance. In states with teacher shortages, it is hoped that higher salaries will lure more competent professionals. States with higher teacher salaries often do have students that boast higher standardized test performance and perform better on markets of student performance. But once again, this is an example of how comparative data can lie. Such states often have higher standards of living and tend to contain more professional families that prioritize education, such as New York State. Also, while states that place a higher priority on education may happen to have higher salaries, this may be due to correlative rather than causal factors.
A final factor to keep in mind is that some states may also use high teacher salaries to lure teachers to potentially undesirable areas. For example, the state of Alaska pays its teachers a very high salary. But this is because few people are willing to endure the harsh conditions of that remote, cold state (Iasevoli 2017). Even if the cost of living is not in and of itself very high, a potential teacher must weigh the negatives of living in Alaska. Alaska’s relatively small population may also skew the data. It is possible in some states (again, New York is an example), that very high salaries in some areas such as the New York metropolitan area, may skew the overall average of the states, while pay in rural areas is much lower for teachers. And again, with all states, starting teacher salaries must be considered as well as average teacher salaries at the end of a teacher’s career.
Another example of the challenge of comparing student data is comparing data between schools. First of all, not all schools implement the Common Core in the same fashion, in the same standardized way, so it can be difficult to compare school districts based solely upon test data. Secondly, there have been allegations that some teachers have engaged in dishonest activities in terms of preparing students to take state exams (Andrews 2016). The rigor of the preparation programs for such exams may also not be analogous to school districts with good working conditions for teachers or even the brightest pupils.
Finally, school districts with high rates of learning disabled students or students who speak English as a second language may have lower overall test scores. Interestingly enough, in studying patterns of cheating on state exams in which teachers or administrators engaged in outright manipulation of test scores, this was “more prevalent in schools with largely African-American and Latino student populations,” as a way to conceal, “the black-white gap in graduation rates” (Andrews, 2016, par. 10). Inequities may not be revealed by the presence of state exams, in other words, given the immediate financial and political pressures to show improvement. Also, as noted by Strauss (2015), when some school districts have changed from one test designer to another, they often note considerable shifts in performance, with many more students showing lower or higher rates of proficiency, which can indicate a relatively arbitrary standard is being applied to student achievement.
When selecting what state board of education is most preferable, a teacher should consider the overall setting of the district, the cost of living, the average teacher salary and test scores in the immediate area (rather than the state as a whole). A teacher should also have a good understanding of the demographic composition of the district, to determine if it is a good match for his or her abilities (for example, if the teacher is skilled in a particular area such as teaching high achievers or ESL student). Finally, the teacher should have a good understanding of the attitude of the administration towards achievement and the ways in which teachers’ opinions are integrated into school decision-making.



References
Andrews, E. (2016). Test score inflation can boost graduation rates but comes with
consequences. Education Week. Retrieved from: https://ed.stanford.edu/news/test-score- inflation-can-boost-graduation-rates-comes-consequences-stanford-study-finds
Iasevoli, B. (2017). Which states pay teachers the most (and least)? Education Week. Retrieved
from: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/teacherbeat/2017/02/which_states_pay_teachers_the_.ht ml
Strauss, V. (2015). New York’s Common Core test scores flop yet again — with 20 percent of
students opting out. The Washington Post. Retrieved from:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2015/08/13/n-y-common-core- test-scores-flop-yet-again/?utm_term=.c0a28c23d664