Making Minds Matter with Bill Costello » Teacher Salaries

Cambodia’s Impoverished Education System

Bill Costello — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 01:13:07 +0000

I recently traveled to Cambodia to research their education system. During my visit, I stopped by the campus of the Royal University of Phnom Penh, the oldest and largest university in the nation, to talk to professors, administrators, and students. I also visited the Chroy Changvar Primary School in Phnom Penh where I observed students [...]

S. Korean Teachers Reach for the SKY

Bill Costello — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:01:56 +0000

Within South Korea, the three most prestigious universities are Seoul National University, Korea University, and Yonsei University. Collectively, they are referred to by the acronym SKY.

Graduating from a SKY university often leads to a prestigious job with a high salary—especially if the graduate is in the field of education. Opinion polls show that South Koreans [...]

Teaching Benefits in S. Korea

Bill Costello — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 02:34:55 +0000

In South Korea, teaching is more than just a high-status profession with a high starting salary; it’s also one of the most stable careers.

Lee Sang Min, assistant professor of education at Korea University, said: “After the economic crisis in 1997, most Koreans considered stability as the most important thing when choosing a job. Therefore, many [...]

Rock Star Teacher

Bill Costello — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 01:01:14 +0000

In education-obsessed South Korea, the potential for earning a lot of money as a teacher is great. For example, 46-year-old math instructor and cram school tutor Woo Hyeong-cheol makes $4 million a year teaching Web-based classes. His salary is higher than most of the top professional baseball players in South Korea. And he’s just as [...]

Teaching Viewed as High-Status in S. Korea

Bill Costello — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 03:42:42 +0000

Opinion polls show that South Koreans view teachers as high-status professionals who make greater contributions to society than any other professionals.

South Korea does two things to raise the status of teaching as a profession. First, it makes entry to teacher training very selective. Teachers are recruited from the top 5 percent of each cohort graduate [...]

McKinsey Report, Part VI

Bill Costello — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:25:57 +0000

This is the sixth part in a series I’ve been writing this week about the report, How the World’s Best-Performing School Systems Come Out on Top, which is an analysis of the world’s school systems to find out why some schools succeed and others do not.

Today, my focus is on the section of the report that examines teacher [...]

McKinsey Report, Part IV

Bill Costello — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 04:19:16 +0000

This is the fourth part in a series I’ve been writing this week about the report, How the World’s Best-Performing School Systems Come Out on Top, which is an analysis of the world’s school systems to find out why some schools succeed and others do not.

Today, my focus is on the section of the report that explains how [...]

McKinsey Report, Part III

Bill Costello — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:34:32 +0000

This is the third part in a series I’ve been writing this week about the report, How the World’s Best-Performing School Systems Come Out on Top, which is an analysis of the world’s school systems to find out why some schools succeed and others do not.

Today, my focus is on the section of the report that analyzes the widely [...]

Merit Pay for Teachers in Wisconsin

Bill Costello — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:50:43 +0000

It’s looking like the Wisconsin Legislature will soon reform teacher salaries.

It’s long overdue. For nearly a century, teacher salaries have been based on years of service and advanced degrees, neither of which correlates with teacher quality. Performance is what counts, so performance is what should be rewarded.

Giving higher salaries to teachers who improve student performance is [...]