Over the last two decades, twenty-two states have moved away from traditional defined benefit (DB) pension systems and toward pension plan structures like the defined contribution (DC) plans now prevalent in the private sector. Others are considering such a reform as it is seen as a means of limiting future pension funding risk. It is important to…

This qualitative study examines the perceptions of current and former instrumental music educators regarding the reasons behind music teachers leaving the profession. The study aims to provide evidence to better understand these issues and their implications for educational leadership. By conducting semi-structured interviews with seven former…

Direct support professionals (DSPs) provide a range of supports in a variety of settings to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) who count on these supports to live, work, and contribute in their communities. Despite this, high annual DSP turnover rates are problematic. DSP turnover is disruptive to people who receive…

Many people believe that U.S. higher education is at a crossroads as tuition costs soar, diversity of the student body grows, and the number of traditionally aged students enrolling in college continues to decline due to lower birth rates in the early 2000s. Today's societal, political, and cultural pressures are unique and thus put added pressure…

Public pension systems in many U.S. states face large funding short-falls, and policymakers have considered moving toward defined contribution (DC) pension structures in the interest of reducing the likelihood of future shortfalls. Concerns exist, however, that such changes might increase levels of employee turnover. The empirical evidence on the…

The rate of presidential turnover over the past decade has accelerated due to planned retirements, the onset of COVID-19, and the complexities and challenges (e.g., political and social) of providing institutional leadership in the context of higher education. This study focused specifically on Christian higher education, where the leadership…

Community Colleges were thrust to the forefront to develop, train, and re-train American workers for an altered labor environment. This occurred at a period of time when community colleges experienced their own reductions in workforce due to retirements. The business industry had long been a consumer of succession planning which utilized the…

This study involving superintendents from four states sought to identify the nature and quality of help provided by outgoing superintendents to their successors, and to capture data regarding differences in the helpfulness of that support, depending on whether the superintendent moved to a new superintendency, retired from the position, or was…

Several studies have argued that teacher pensions are a raw deal for most teachers and should be replaced with account-style plans. This report examines research that most teachers working today are building a secure retirement. According to the author, the myth that most teachers get a raw deal while a lucky few receive generous pensions is based…

Traditional defined benefit (DB) pension systems in many states face large funding shortfalls. Movement toward defined contribution (DC) pension structures may reduce the likelihood of future shortfalls, but there is concern that such reforms may have the undesirable effect of increasing employee turnover. In studying patterns of employee turnover…

Oregon's Tier One Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) covered members prior to January 1, 1996. This "Issue Brief" documents the generosity of the money match provision under Oregon's Tier One plan relative to the Tier One defined-benefit formula, and relative to other plans in Oregon and Washington and to representative plans…

There is a nationwide shortage of qualified teachers, with 90% of all teacher shortages caused by teacher attrition (Carver-Thomas & Darling-Hammond, 2019). This study surveyed public school K-12 teachers in South Carolina to gain an understanding of workplace factors that contribute to teacher intentions to quit/ teacher attrition. The…

Superintendents are leaving districts at an alarming rate across the nation, which can lead to detrimental effects for students, staff, and communities. Where once this was a position of prestige, it has become one in which educational experts are choosing to leave districts because of the various stressors that comprise their jobs. It is not…

How are California districts handling deepening teacher shortages 18 months into the COVID-19 pandemic? Following up on a March 2021 study, "California Teachers and COVID-19: How the Pandemic Is Impacting the Teacher Workforce" (ED614374), this report describes the severe shortages many districts are experiencing and the strategies some…

Principal turnover continues to be a problem in schools today, and urban schools experience principal turnover at the highest rate. There has been an abundance of research on turnover of school principals, yet minimal research on retention of urban school principals. This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews with retired urban school…