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Devaluing Degrees
8/7/13 | Inside Higher Ed

Behind the Headline
The Education School Master’s Degree Factory
April 2011| Education Next Blog

North Carolina lawmakers last week eliminated automatic pay raises for teachers who complete master’s degrees. The move is expected to hurt enrollment in ed schools in the state, which will hurt the bottom lines of colleges and universities that train teachers, explains Kevin Kiley in Inside Higher Ed.

An analysis published in the Economics of Education review in 2011 found that teachers in Florida with an M. A. degree were no more effective, on average, than teachers who lacked such a degree. At the time, Paul Peterson noted “One of the most straightforward ways school districts can obtain cost savings without harming students is to eliminate extra pay for teachers who earn a master’s degree.”

An article by Dan Goldhaber that was published in Ed Next, “The Mystery of Good Teaching,” reviewed the evidence on which characteristics of teachers seem to matter most for student achievement.

-Education Next