State Teacher Policy Database Homepage › National Overview › Policy Priority: Teacher Compensation

Pay for Prior Work Experience

State policy can help attract career-switchers with content knowledge and experience by authorizing incentives that acknowledge candidates’ relevant backgrounds.

Data updated: September 2022

Go to a policy lever Differentiated Pay for Hard-to-Staff Schools and Subjects Performance Pay Pay for Prior Work Experience
Select a state Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

Why focus on Pay for Prior Work Experience to improve Teacher Compensation?

More often than not, average teacher salaries do not match the salaries of professionals with similar education in the same area, especially starting salaries.1 This makes attracting career-switchers to the field of education extremely challenging.

State performance on Pay for Prior Work Experience to improve Teacher Compensation

Three quarters of states make no mention of adjusting starting salary for prior relevant work experience for career switchers entering teaching. Not acknowledging applicable content or relevant work experience is a missed opportunity to attract career-switchers to the education profession.

NCTQ evaluates whether states are effectively using this policy lever by examining whether they direct districts to adjust starting salaries for new teachers with relevant work experience. Explore the key actions below to learn more about how each state is implementing policies to improve Teacher Compensation. (NCTQ does not currently assign rankings to states for this policy area.)

Who stands out?

North Carolina
Indiana
Louisiana

What are the key actions states should take?

    • Key Resources

    State of the States 2022: Teacher Compensation Strategies

    Explore NCTQ’s detailed state analysis of teacher compensation strategies.

    Explore resource

    Smart Money 2.0

    Uncover teachers' salaries across 90 districts nationwide, learn about strategies to increase pay, and discover missed opportunities for raising compensation and improving outcomes.

    Explore resource

    More districts are paying teaches strategically to meet critical needs. Is yours?

    Learn more about how some districts are implementing differentiated compensation to fill critical gaps and improve student learning.

    Explore resource

    What are the long term effects of teacher performance pay on student outcomes?

    Read more about the research behind teacher performance pay.

    Explore resource
    References
    1. Saenz-Armstrong, P. (2021); Baker, B. D., Di Carlo, M., & Weber, M. (2019). School finance and teacher pay competitiveness. Albert Shanker Institute and Rutgers Graduate School of Education.
    2. Brobst, J., Markworth, K., Tasker, T., & Ohana, C. (2017). Comparing the preparedness, content knowledge, and instructional quality of elementary science specialists and self‐contained teachers. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 54(10), 1302-1321. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21406.
    3. Hynes, M. M. (2012). Middle-school teachers’ understanding and teaching of the engineering design process: a look at subject matter and pedagogical content knowledge. International Journal of Technology and Design Education, 22(3), 345-360. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10798-010-9142-4.