State and district salary schedules continue to reward teachers for earning master's degrees and higher, despite the fact that study after study show no correlation between master's degrees and a teacher's effectiveness. The premiums shelled out to teachers with advanced degrees range widely, as University of Washington professor Dick Startz, (and author of Profit of Education) nicely illustrates on his new website.
![](http://www.nctq.org/p/tqb/images/masters-vs-bachelors.png)
At one end of the spectrum, Illinois teachers with master's degrees earn 43 percent more than teachers with just a bachelor's, while in Oregon the difference is only three percent. The problem is, such premiums are distributed to any teacher who plunks down tuition and earns a master's, regardless of that teacher's effectiveness in the classroom.