targeted incentives to what they already offer. District employees appreciate predictability, so this layering approach might be a pragmatic way for districts to pro- vide that stability while also targeting their biggest staff- ing challenges.


Signing bonuses attract to specific areas qualified workers who might otherwise be inclined to work elsewhere.


Offering financial incentives for hard-to-fill positions is not a new strategy; but as districts experience particu- lar shortages, the targeted money may help. An analysis by the National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research suggests that offering sti- pends in specific shortage areas can improve employee retention rates in those areas (Feng and Sass 2015).


Beyond Traditional Pay Scales


In addition to targeted incentives, some districts revised their salary scales in ways that bucked the trend of directing larger raises to the most senior employees. For example, rather than raising salaries by the same per- centage, which would have given the largest increases to the highest-paid employees, Georgia’s Gwinnett County Public Schools doled out a $2,000 raise to each of its teachers regardless of seniority. A district in Indiana agreed to raise all teacher salaries by $5,000 in 2021 and another $2,000 in 2022. These “flat-dollar” raises treat all workers equally and narrow the discrepancy between lower-paid beginning teachers and their higher-paid vet- eran colleagues.


Providing larger incentives to junior teachers is also a more responsive approach to historical teacher turnover patterns. Early-career workers are much more likely to leave than their colleagues. Yet research from our col- leagues at the Edunomics Lab has found that the aver- age pay schedule tends to withhold the largest rewards


for teachers who are already the most inclined to stay (Roza 2015).


Before the pandemic, many district leaders might have refrained from these types of compensation changes based on the thinking that “our labor won’t go for that.” That perception appears increasingly outdated. After all, many of the initiatives highlighted here resulted from negotiations with unions. As districts go into their next labor negotiations, they may find an opportunity to think outside their traditional pay scales. The 2021 school year was an exceptionally tight labor


market, leaving employers in every sector struggling to find workers. Although some things may eventually return to normal, district leaders should not count on all of their labor issues to resolve themselves. The past two years have shown that districts can be nimble when they need to be. Beyond the current moment, these types of approaches could pave the way for smarter, more tai- lored compensation packages that are better for school districts, teachers, and students.


References and Resources


Feng, L., and T. R. Sass. 2015. The Impact of Incentives To Re- cruit and Retain Teachers in “Hard-To-Staff” Subjects: An Analy- sis of the Florida Critical Teacher Shortage Program. National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data on Education Research, September. https://caldercenter.org/sites/default/files/WP%20141. pdf.


Goldhaber, D., and R. Theobald. 2021. Teacher attrition and Mobility Over Time. Educational Researcher, November.


McVey, K. P., and J. Trinidad. 2019. Nuance in the Noise: The Complex Reality of Teacher Shortages. Bellwether Education Partners. https://bellwethereducation.org/sites/default/files/ Nuance%20In%20The%20Noise_Bellwether.pdf.


Roza, M. 2015. Breaking Tradition: A Fixed-Dollar Pay Raise Strategy that Benefits Teachers and School Districts. Edunomics Lab, November. https://edunomicslab.org/wp-content/uploads/ 2015/10/Breaking-Tradition-paper.pdf.


U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Educa- tion. 2021. Preparing and Credentialing the Nation’s Teachers. The Secretary’s 11th Report on the Teacher Workforce.Wash- ington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. https://title2.ed.gov/ Public/Title_II_Secretary’s_Report_508.pdf.


Chad Aldeman is the policy director of the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University. Email: chad.aldeman@georgetown.edu


Katherine Silberstein is a research fellow at the Edunomics Lab. Email: ks1747@georgetown.edu


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