New report spotlights teacher pay gap

At a time of national debate over ways to improve the performance of America's schools, a new report from the Economic Policy Institute reveals a trend that undermines chances of reaching that goal: a large and growing pay penalty for those who choose to become public school teachers. Over the last decade that teacher pay gap increased from 4.3% to 15.1%.

The Teaching Penalty: Teacher Pay Losing Ground by Sylvia Allegretto, Sean Corcoran, and Lawrence Mishel compares teachers' weekly pay to that of a core group of occupations with similar educational and skills requirements: accountants, reporters, registered nurses, computer programmers, clergy, and personnel officers. For further information, visit the Economic Policy Institute website.