American Teacher

About the Project

American Teacher is the feature-length documentary film created and produced by The Teacher Salary Project. Based on the New York Times bestselling book, Teachers Have it Easy: The Big Sacrifices and Small Salaries of America’s Teachers, by journalist and teacher Daniel Moulthrop.

Weaving interviews of policy experts and startling facts with the lives and careers of four teachers, American Teacher tells the collective story by and about those closest to the issues in our educational system—the 3.2 million teachers who spend every day in classrooms across the country.

This is a challenging time for American education, and there have been many theories proposed about how to address the issue. The theory is simple: In the next ten years, almost two million teachers will retire, and then we will have to make a choice. We can continue with the current system of attracting teachers to the profession—low pay, long hours, little support, and no prestige—a system that results in extremely high turnover, low morale, and prices out 85 percent of college graduates, who don’t even consider the profession, or we can change. The Teacher Salary Project believes that if we increase compensation and improve conditions, we will attract the best college graduates to the profession. Those who might otherwise go into law or other lucrative fields will instead consider teaching. And with the best and the brightest in the profession, schools will get better. Far better. It’s not a new idea, it’s a proven fact: research shows that a child’s school success is all about the teachers.

American Teacher makes this point, but more than that, it tells the story of four exemplary young teachers, their lives and experiences, and the crisis they all faced – can I afford to continue to teach? Viewers leave the film outraged at a system that makes it so difficult for the best teachers to remain in the profession.

The ultimate vision of The Teacher Salary Project is to propel teaching into the financially attractive, prestigious and competitive profession it needs to be. Utilizing the power of film, the internet, and community connections, The Teacher Salary Project hopes to show national audiences that teachers are crucial to the success of our educational system, and on a broader level, our country.

The Fledgling Fund Impact

The Fledgling Fund is proud to support American Teacher. This powerful film adds an important and sometimes overlooked dimension in the debate around U.S. education system reform. The personal stories of the teachers featured in the film are highly representative of many of the challenges teachers around the country face as they pursue their passion for education.