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Teachers are seeing their colleagues leave the profession at an alarming rate, and this might be why

More than 40% of teachers leave the profession within five years, according to the NEA, leaving teacher shortages across the country.

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Teacher's salaries are often determined by a "step and lane" system. Teachers are put into lanes based on their educational level and experience, and are then able to take "steps" through the program each year. Salaries are tied to both lane and level.

But many critics feel the step and lane system doesn't actually have a positive impact on teachers — or students —because it means that yearly raises are largely pre-set. This minimizes teachers' incentives to improve student performance or push students for better outcomes.

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In a 2014 report, The New Teacher Project argued that step and lane pay "hampers recruitment, creates perverse incentives for retention and ignores the urgency of bringing top talent to the schools that most need great teachers."

The step and lane system also limits the total amount of salary growth a teacher can make throughout their career. Consider this example from TNTP on the salary discrepancies between a biology teacher and a biologist. While both start out at similar salaries of around $48,000, salary growth for biology teachers is much slower.

A biology teacher with 8 to 10 years of experience makes on average around $69,000, compared to a biologist who makes on average $107,000. And as time goes on, the discrepancy tends to widen. A biology teacher with 16 years on the job tops out at about $81,000, while a biologist will make as much as $120,000.

What's more, many teachers feel frustrated that performance has so little to do with raises. The "step and lane" style of salary bump, they say, deincentivizes going the extra mile. As TNTP's report explains, "No matter how much they excel at their jobs, they will never be recognized with anything more than the same small raise that every other teacher receives."

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