A survey of 56 colleges investigated how the institutions approach planning for staffing and the significance given such factors as abolition of mandatory retirement, tenure ratios, faculty retirements, faculty hiring and supply and demand, and related issues. Specific concerns emerged, and findings did not consistently bear out previous research.…

The origins of the faculty development movement in higher education can be traced to the mid-1970's, when low retirement rates were virtually eliminating career mobility for professors, and changes in student demographics, educational settings, and instructional methods required many faculty members to alter their usual teaching practices. Private…

This paper questions whether there is sufficient evidence, as presented in the popular press, to support special action to increase the supply of college and university faculty. The higher education popular press has published several forecasts of faculty shortages due to the mass retirement of expansion era faculty and the forecasted low numbers…

The challenge facing school finance is how to harness the school-finance system to the fundamental purpose of education: to improve learning for all students. The challenge is posed by political demands for better school performance and accountability, and by court rulings that tie school funding to standards of adequacy. This paper examines four…

The views of teachers and principals in Massachusetts on early retirement and other issues associated with reduction-in-force policies were sampled and analyzed. Alternatives to layoffs, methods of evaluating teacher performance fairly, and use of seniority as a criterion for retention are discussed. (PP)

The new financial environment for retirement emerging in the 1980s is marked by increased individual responsibility for financial well-being, a changed workforce, and the need to contain costs. The trend will be away from the group approach and toward cafeteria-style benefit programs, providing greater freedom of benefit choice. (MSE)

The report of the National Research Council's committee on mandatory retirement in higher education is summarized, and related issues are discussed briefly, including trends in faculty retirement age, factors in retirement decision making, faculty productivity and age, and implications for tenure. (MSE)

This publication presents a close examination of conceptual, legal and related issues surrounding the dismissal of tenured higher education faculty, under the fourth exception to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). This exception, which will expire on December 31, 1993, permits existing, compulsory retirement-age policies to be…

To analyze the popularity and merits of the year-round school, this report reviews research and other literature on (1) the history of the year-round school including highlights of a few school district programs from 1800 to the present; (2) the academic, economic, and social impact of year-round schools; (3) school districts' concerns about…

School systems encountering declining enrollments also face an increasing proportion of senior faculty drawing high salaries. There are no hard data on demographics of the teaching professions or research which supports any relationship between age and quality of teaching. Crucial research questions remain which gerontologists could help answer.…

Draws on recent data from surveys and research conducted by the U.S. Department of Education to sketch the outline of the approaching changes in the teacher labor market and to comment on the issue of teacher quality. Enduring teacher quality requires institutional reform in the teacher preparation and compensation system. (SM)

Based on a labor market analysis and studies of prospective faculty retirement trends in the absence of mandatory retirement, two different considerations are seen as influencing academic staffing: an acceleration of faculty leaving the professions, and the refusal of ineffective faculty to retire. (MSE)

Higher salaries and improved working conditions have combined to make teaching a more attractive profession and to reduce teacher turnover rates. At the same time, however, the teaching work force has aged and faces problems in retirement programs. All levels of government should work with interested groups to find solutions to six major problems…

The popular conviction that Canadian universities will experience a serious faculty shortage in the 1990s is examined through statistics on faculty aging and replacement demand, retirement conditions, faculty renewal incentives, and the supply of doctoral recipients. It is concluded that there will be a surplus well into the 1990s. (MSE)

Until the beginning of 1994, federal law permitted mandatory retirement of tenured faculty at age 70. The Committee on Mandatory Retirement in Higher Education, formed by the National Research Council, was charged by Congress to examine potential effects on colleges, universities, and faculty members of ending the exemption for tenured faculty…