Teacher Preferences, Working Conditions, and Compensation Structure

Improving schools depends on attracting talented teachers and fostering retention, both made possible by appealing to worker preferences. I use a discrete-choice experiment to estimate preferences for a comprehensive set of workplace attributes including compensation structure, working conditions, and contract type. Highly rated teachers have stronger preferences for schools offering performance pay, which may be useful to differentially attract and retain them. Under various criteria, schools seem to underpay in salary and performance pay while overpaying in retirement benefits. The results suggest restructuring compensation can improve teacher welfare and student outcomes simultaneously