Investing in the Teacher Workforce: Experimental Evidence on Teachers’ Preferences

Abstract

Inadequate compensation is often viewed as the root of teacher workforce challenges despite teacher reports that working conditions matter more. Using an original discrete choice experiment with a national sample of 1,030 U.S. teachers, we found that support staff—special education specialists, counselors, and nurses—play an essential role in shaping teachers’ employment preferences. Teachers value access to these support staff more than they value a 10% increase to their own salary. We also assessed teachers’ preferences regarding childcare subsidies and find that teachers treat a 10% salary increase and a childcare benefit of similar value as near perfect substitutes. To test the durability of these findings, we replicated our study 2 years later and found nearly identical results.