The COVID-related financial market decline and economic recession have raised new concerns regarding the financial sustainability of retirement plans for state and local government employees, the largest group of whom is public school teachers. Using data from the Public Plans Database and the National Income and Product Accounts, I analyze…

In 2019, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) began exploratory data collection for the School Pension Survey (SPS). The SPS is a new data collection of elementary/secondary school teacher pension data collected at the school district level. The SPS was developed primarily in response to public demand for data on teacher and other…

Since its launch in the midst of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the American School District Panel (ASDP) has been used to monitor timely topics in kindergarten through grade 12 (K-12) public education. Over time, ASDP surveys have coalesced around four key challenges that U.S. public school districts face today: school…

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…

Background/Context: High teacher turnover has directed a great deal of scholarly attention toward the connection between teacher retention and teacher working conditions. Prior work has identified a set of key working conditions associated with teacher retention, including supportive school leadership, school safety, a collaborative professional…

Nearly half of U.S. schools are facing COVID-related staff shortages that threaten the efforts to shape programming and invest in resources to solve students' unfinished learning. Without enough teachers and support staff, students won't receive rigorous instruction, won't have access to targeted intensive tutoring to address their unfinished…

This report presents school district leaders' views about staff turnover, hiring, and districts' financial outlooks at the end of the 2020-2021 school year. Based on the survey responses of 292 district leaders from the American School District Panel (ASDP), the authors found that teacher and principal turnover had not increased substantially…

This report, submitted in compliance with 105 ILCS 5/1A-4E, provides a discussion of the overall condition of education in Illinois. Information is included concerning student and teacher demographics; data on teacher and administrator licensure; federal, state, and local resources; and other data on Illinois education. The 2021 Condition of…

This past year has been unlike any in recent history. In March, the global COVID-19 pandemic forced Illinois to shift suddenly to remote learning for all students. This adjustment exposed the digital divide as a stark reality. One bright spot in the year occurred in May, when the Illinois' plan for career and technical education (CTE) received…