of color. (8) Research, including a study by the Economic Policy Institute, has found that raising teacher salaries helps attract the best and brightest young people into teaching, encourages teachers to teach in underserved schools, improves teacher retention and morale, and bolsters student academic outcomes. According to the Learning Policy Institute, controlling for other factors, teachers employed by local educational agencies with the highest salary schedules are 31 percent less likely to leave than teachers employed by local educational agencies with lower pay scales. (9) According to the Consortium for Policy Research in Education at the University of Pennsylvania, teachers who enter the profession through comprehensive and high-quality pathways are 2 to 3 times more likely to remain in the profession than underprepared teachers who enter through less than comprehensive pathways. (10) Several studies have shown the many benefits of providing opportunities for teacher leadership, which include improving instructional practice, increasing academic and other positive outcomes for students, and increasing teacher retention. (11) Teachers in the United States are systemically underpaid compared to their similarly educated peers. As the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development wrote in 2019, Depending on the level of education taught, teachers’ salaries are between 62 percent and 68 percent of the average salaries of tertiary-educated workers. These relative earnings are among the lowest across all OECD countries and economies. . (12) Raising teacher salaries to at least $60,000 a year and ensuring competitive pay throughout the lifetime of the teaching career is one of the most important steps the United States can take to address the teacher shortage crisis and ensure all students have access to qualified teachers and educational opportunity. Paying teachers as the professionals they are is critical in order to honor the work of educators, restore respect to the teaching profession, and create