Based on data presented in the article “Improving Islamic Schools: Attracting & Retaining Qualified Teachers in US Full-Time Islamic Schools Through Analysis of Compensation,” co-published by ISPU & ISLA, June 26, 2024, by Nicole Steward-Streng, Dr. Shaza Khan, and Dr. Samar Al-Majaideh.
Reference: ispu.org/public-policy/improving-schools/
A recent report published by ISPU & ISLA highlights some of the data behind the challenges and successes faced by US Islamic Schools in hiring and retaining talented staff. The report used survey results from 104 US Islamic schools across 30 states. On average, Islamic School teachers face a large discrepancy in teacher pay and benefits as compared to national averages of both public and other private school educators.. Larger schools were found to be able to provide better compensation and higher more qualified teachers. Despite the challenges, 75% of Islamic schools indicated that they were able to retain 76-100% of their staff.
Pay at full-time Islamic schools was substantially less than for educators at other private and public schools across the country. The report notes that the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) reported an average annual wage for teachers of $65,910 in 2022. The average pay noted by US Islamic schools that participated in the survey was much less at $39,653, with schools in the West reporting the highest average salaries of $47,589. As with other educators, elementary school teachers received the least pay, with middle school teachers slightly higher, and high school teachers receiving the highest salaries. In 2020-21, the overall salaries of private school teachers nationally were approximately 75% of public school salaries. However, “In 2022, Islamic school teacher salaries were approximately 60% of the annual average wage for public and private school teachers as reported by NCES across the states that had survey participants.” Discouragingly, over 40% of Islamic schools pay their staff a “low salary” of between $20-30K for full-time work.
Higher pay at Islamic schools was linked to both size and the school’s financial position, with schools with higher resources in a much better position to pay higher salaries. The report compared schools with high operating budgets to other Islamic schools; a difference of $7,600 was seen in average teachers’ salaries. Furthermore, schools with high annual revenue provide an additional $8,700 on average to their teachers in compensation. Schools with more teachers on staff, in particular full-time teachers, pay higher salaries as well. “Forty-two percent of schools with 30 or more teachers report a high average teacher salary compared to only 22% of schools with 10 or fewer teachers on staff.” On the other hand, schools that hire fewer full-time teachers provide lower salaries. “73% of schools with fewer than two full-time teachers for every part-time teacher on staff pay full-time teachers in the lowest salary range, while only 29% of schools with a full-time to part-time ratio of more than 7:1 pay their full-time teachers in the lowest salary range.”
Do Islamic schools provide benefits? The majority of schools surveyed provided an average of 5 employee benefits during the 2022-2023 school year. Among the benefits that are given to staff by most Islamic schools include professional development opportunities (90%), paid sick leave (88%), and employee tuition discount (87%). Continuing education reimbursements and paid vacation are offered by the majority of schools as well. Not surprisingly, schools with higher pay offer more benefits. Schools with average pay at the top of the scale ($45-65K) offer six+ benefits to their employees (69% of schools) vs. just 22% of schools with low salaries.
Based on the data, a larger proportion of schools with higher salaries and more benefits retain their employees as compared with schools with lower salaries and lower benefits. A “high” retention rate was considered by the report, when 75-100% of teachers were retained between 2021-22 and the 2022-23 school years. For schools with high salaries, 86% reported a high retention rate vs. 59% for schools with low levels of teacher pay. At schools with more than six benefits, a high retention rate was reported for 88% of schools, vs. at just 69% of the schools with four or less benefits. In particular, health insurance, paid sick leave, and continuing education were benefits associated with teacher retention.
Despite the challenges in pay and benefits noted, the majority of Islamic schools noted in the report were still able to retain a majority of their teachers.
