Pay for Progress The Relationship Between Florida Districts? Teacher Salary Offerings and Their High School Dropout Rates

Abstract

While teacher effectiveness literature has suggested a potential promising relationship between test-score-based teacher quality and student test score based growth, the question of whether teachers can improve student dropout rates is not as well understood. Grounding our work based on theories that suggest higher salaries may attract better teachers, we utilize panel analyses on three years’ worth of data (2012–2014) to estimate the potential impact of Florida public school districts’ teacher offerings on their dropout rates. We define teacher salaries in three different ways: (1) districts’ average teacher salary, (2) teachers’ earning potential with a given level of education (i.e., bachelor’s and master’s degree holders) within the districts, and (3) districts’ salary-level offering. Our findings support the assertion that improved pay is positively related to lower student dropouts. This finding contributes significantly to the teacher quality, teacher salary, and the high school dropout prevention literature and has policy implications.