In case you didn’t know October 5th is International World Teachers Day and the Every Student Succeeds Act will soon go into effect. The personal-finance website WalletHub conducted an in-depth analysis of 2016’s Best & Worst States for Teachers. Arizona’s overall rank is 49th with only West Virginia and Hawaii ranked lower.
While most educators don’t pursue their profession for the money and despite their critical role in shaping young minds, teachers across the U.S. are shortchanged every year. In fact, education jobs are some of the lowest-paying occupations that require a bachelor’s degree, and their salaries consistently fail to keep up with inflation. Meanwhile, the law demands better student performance without providing educators much guidance or incentive to improve their own effectiveness in the classroom.
In order to identify the best teaching opportunities in the country and draw attention to the states needing improvement in this regard, WalletHub shared their analysis of the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 16 key metrics, ranging from “average starting salary” to “pupil-teacher ratio” to “school safety.”
Teacher-Friendliness of Arizona (1=Best; 25=Avg.)
- 37th – Average Starting Salary for Teachers (Adjusted for Cost of Living)
- 47th – Median Annual Salary for Teachers (Adjusted for Cost of Living)
- 48th – WalletHub “School Systems” Ranking
- 21st – School Safety
- 51st – 10-Year Change in Teacher Salaries
- 49th – Pupil-Teacher Ratio
Is it any wonder that Arizona has an unacceptable number of open teaching positions. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, about a fifth of all new public-school teachers leave their positions before the end of their first year — nearly half of them never last more than five years.
For the full report, visit 2016’s Best & Worst States for Teachers.