The following visuals can provide insight to how education and economics are at a constant give and take in terms of growth and improvement.
Education and Economic Growth
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Education is an investment into one's future. The initial costs to education are a means to acquiring better human capital which ultimately results in being more desirable in the job market. A more competitive job market can ultimately lead to more demand for higher secondary education. As wage rates are increased and the unemployment rate decreases the demand for education can also decrease as there are already jobs being filled with an enticing wage. Economic and educational growth benefit one another through increase in demand. Even though low quality in education hinders innovation and productivity within the economy, it can still grow through other areas in the marketplace. Increasing incentives and accountability for students and teachers can greatly increase educational output in the form of economic gain.
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Growth of GDP, Employment and GDP per Person Employed 2017 percent change
Source: The Conference Board Total Economy Database™ Summary Tables (March 2018)
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Individual improvement through human capital provides benefits in personal earnings and economic development. As education helps to promote individual growth, government policies drive expansion or contraction in economic growth. Advancement in technology has provided both developed and underdeveloped countries with the ability to acquire more human capital and increased employment.
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Educational Responses to the Labor Market
| Chicago Public Schools | Norwegian Schools | Ontario, Canada | |
| Area of focus | Teacher evaluation | Wage Premium | Professional Development |
| Desired outcome | Remove low-performing teachers through evaluation system. | Enhanced recruitment of teachers. | Increase teacher and school leader quality and reduce oversupply. |
| Method | Evaluate multiple times per year using Charlotte Danielson’s Framework for Teaching (FFT). | Deliver a wage premium. | Lengthened training and practicum period while decreasing the amount of periods offered. |
| Actual Outcome | Evaluation reform has the potential to remove low-performing teachers. | Wage effect on recruitment is higher for smaller schools and newly hired teachers. | High ranking student test score results. |
Economic success requires investment into human capital. Education organizations that provide their employees with opportunity to increase their abilities see improved effectiveness, retention, and innovation. Three school systems utilized different methods in order to attain improvement in their organization.
Chicago Public Schools used a method which enhanced their teacher evaluation system. The main purpose of implementing a new evaluation system was to decrease the amount of low-performing teachers. Decrease in low-performance could come in the form of either seeing them exit or become more motivated due to higher accountability and standards. The results seemed to show that many teachers were more motivated since very few teachers actually received low ratings. Those that did receive low ratings were more likely to leave the district.
Norwegian schools took a different action and decided to enhance their teacher recruitment process. An upfront wage premium was given to teachers in order to entice higher quality teachers to apply. The success of this tactic was dependent on the size of the school. The wage increase had a larger effect on smaller schools. Recruitment of newly hired and younger teachers were also more responsive to the wage increase.
Canada has put more of a focus on professional development in order to increase the quality of their teachers and leaders. More time is allotted toward professional development opportunities, specifically during training practicum. Canada has seen positive results in the form of world ranking student test scores. As an example, Ontario's 2015 PISA exam results ranked fifth in the world in reading (Canada Overview).
Investing in tactics that may take time in the beginning seem to be the key to fully developing quality within education. Providing more accountability for administration and teachers can result in more motivation to perform at a higher standard. Looking at long-term success should be the main priority rather than implementing quick fixes for the short-term.
Reference:
Canada Overview. (n.d.). Retrieved July 29, 2018, from http://ncee.org/what-we-do/center-on- international-education-benchmarking/top-performing-countries/canada-overview/
