State-Wide Teacher Walkouts Highlight Equality Gaps

Arizona, Colorado, Kentucky, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and West Virginia mounted statewide teacher walkouts related to teacher salary during 2018. This study offers a synthesis of literature surrounding the walkouts, along with examination of similarities and differences in publicly available measures, highlighting equity gaps and comparison to states whose teaching force did not choose to walkout and demand increased pay and per-student spending, better benefits, or better working conditions. Relationships are sought between the variables considered: per-pupil expenditures, achievement, graduation rates, college persistence of high school graduates, college graduation rates, attainment of varied levels of degree credentials, and cost of living, as related to teacher salaries, increases, and decreases. Links between political and policy issues and the variables related to unrest leading to the walkouts are explored through literature.