Without changes in current policies, U.S. teacher shortages are projected to grow in the coming years. Teacher turnover is an important source of these shortages. About 8% of teachers leave the profession each year, two-thirds of them for reasons other than retirement. Another 8% shift to different schools each year. In addition to aggravating…

The landscape of public education retirement plans is in an upheaval. A variety of economic, demographic, and political factors make it increasingly difficult for defined-benefit pension plans alone to provide educators with an adequate retirement. As a result, for the nearly seven million educators in America's public primary and secondary…

Just 18 minutes before the midnight signing deadline on May 15, 2010, Minnesota state legislators breathed a sigh of relief. Their bipartisan pension reform legislation, which passed both chambers by large margins and aimed to help shore up a potentially failing pension system, had just escaped a veto threat. Under pressure from his Republican…

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…

For teachers, in particular, the importance of early retirement investing has never been more critical. The reality is that, decades from now, when teachers arrive at retirement age, their current state teacher retirement plan may have changed substantially. As a result, they do not want to reach retirement and regret that they never considered…

In the past few decades, especially since the 2008-09 economic downturn, the faculty of American colleges and universities has undergone a far-reaching transformation. Multiple factors, mainly extraneous to the campus itself, are reshaping higher education, and as a result a reprioritizing of the internal allocation of resources is occurring. The…

Boosting early retirement in cash-strapped districts does not hurt students' math and reading scores, according to new studies released at the American Economic Association meeting, but pension-incentive programs may cost schools some of their most effective teachers. Separate studies of teachers in California, Illinois, and North Carolina paint a…

Grow Your Own (GYO) educator programs are a potential strategy for districts and universities to employ to help recruit and retain teachers of color. When designed within an asset-based framework, they emphasize equitable approaches and critical perspectives that combine the powerful roles of "homegrown" teachers, culturally-relevant…

After waiting over nine months for the results of his PhD thesis the author was motivated to conduct some qualitative research on the reasons why the system of examiners' reports is so slow and goes on to explain how this problem could be improved by the recruitment of retired academics.

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…

Like many states, Minnesota has incurred large budget deficits during the past two years. Those deficits have, in turn, led to changes in a number of areas of state government, particularly higher education. Faculty have incurred pay freezes and layoffs, programs have closed, and tuition increased. Campuses within the MnSCU system have been…

States are doing much to bolster teacher education, training and professional development in recognition that challenges exist in the sustenance of a pipeline of qualified educators in all areas, including career and technical education (CTE). A recent brief, "Teacher Shortage Undermines CTE," by the National Association of State…

The author became aware that there are hundreds of retired teachers in the community who want to continue to learn, or at least to have their intellect stimulated. Some join clubs or read books or do crosswords or even surf the net when they retire, but these folks wanted to be stimulated with some mathematics. The author was initially surprised…

Teaching is not the safe career bet that it once was. The thinking used to be: New students will always be entering the public schools, and older teachers will always be retiring, so new teachers will always be needed. But teaching jobs aren't secure enough to stand up to the "Great Recession," as this drawn-out downturn has been called. Across…

According to recent literature, the field of school psychology is facing a major shortage of trainers at present and in the near future. Although this is not a new issue facing the field, faculty retirements are increasing, and fewer doctoral candidates in school psychology are choosing an academic path for their careers, resulting in many faculty…