Policy discussions about teacher quality and teacher "shortages" often focus on recruitment and retention of young teachers. However, attention has begun to focus on the incentive effects of teacher retirement benefit systems, particularly given their rising costs and the large unfunded liabilities. In this paper we analyze accrual of…

There is significant interest in reforming retirement plans for public school employees, particularly in light of current market conditions. This paper presents an overview of the various types of state regulation of public pension plans that affect possibilities for reform. Several states have legal protections that effectively prevent a state…

State and federal accountability systems are pressuring public schools to improve the performance of low-achieving students. To respond, schools must be able to recruit and retain high-quality teachers, strengthen curricula, and take other steps to provide struggling students with the help they need. But such efforts are expensive and, as the…

Given the growing interest in a privatized Social Security system and the lack of adequate retirement planning among many people in the United States, many households are often ill prepared for retirement. The outlook for low-income populations is even bleaker because they are often not privy to the same financial education and asset-building…

The data presented in this combined report--"Rankings & Estimates"--provide facts about the extent to which local, state, and national governments commit resources to public education. As one might expect in a nation as diverse as the United States--with respect to economics, geography, and politics--the level of commitment to…

Over the period of 40 years public sentiment in this country in favor of provisions for the comfort and security of aged groups has had a steady growth. The sentiment in favor of provisions for the retirement of public-school teachers is now so general that it is often felt unnecessary to include any consideration of the social and economic…

This bulletin has been prepared by the National Education Association's Committee on Salaries, Tenure, and Pensions in cooperation with the Bureau of Education. Its purpose is to show the extent of the teachers' pension movement in a brief and summary way, and to collect in convenient form pension legislation for public school-teachers in the…

The Securities and Exchange Commission has launched a "Just for Teachers" section on its Web site to assist public school teachers in grades K-12 evaluate and select appropriate investments for employer-sponsored 403(b) retirement savings plans and other savings vehicles. The functions of this site are briefly described in this article.

The Maryland edition of the National Council on Teacher Quality's (NCTQ's) 2009 "State Teacher Policy Yearbook" is the third annual look at state policies impacting the teaching profession. It is hoped that this report will help focus attention on areas where state policymakers can make changes that will have a positive impact on teacher…

This fourth edition of the "ES Review" brings together, in one setting, some of the best work from 2009-10. It features: (1) Teacher Quality (Teachers at Work: Improving Teacher Quality Through School Design (Elena Silva); Understanding Teachers Contracts (Andrew J. Rotherham); How Teachers Unions Lost the Media (Richard Whitmire and…

In "Market-Based Pay Reform for Public School Teachers"--a paper presented at the National Center on Performance Incentives research to policy conference in February--Michael Podgursky, professor of economics at the University of Missouri, examines the effects and unintended consequences of the current compensation system for teachers in…

Many states are struggling to finance under-funded teacher pension systems as well as recruit and retain a high-quality teaching workforce. This paper compares Maryland's former (prior to Spring, 2006) teacher pension system to those in Pennsylvania and several other states. On the basis of simple replacement rates, the former Maryland state plan…

For more than a century, a succession of New York City (NYC) mayors have claimed that they were reducing administrative overhead in the school system and driving more resources to instruction. These claims have been dutifully reported by the press with rarely any effort to verify them. For the last 50 years, the salaries of teachers were increased…

The development of pension systems for public-school teachers in the United States has been both recent and rapid. A beginning of their establishment was made in the latter part of the nineteenth century, and today, after 30 years, very few States are without some form of a teachers' pension system. The purpose of the present study of pension…

This report presents the Connecticut edition of the National Council on Teacher Quality's 2008 "State Teacher Policy Yearbook." The 2008 "Yearbook" focuses on how state policies impact the retention of effective new teachers. This policy evaluation is broken down into three areas that encompass 15 goals. Broadly, these goals…