Most U.S. public school teachers participate in defined benefit retirement plans, which base benefits on years of service and their last few years of salary. These plans are often backloaded and include sharp economic incentives. We consider the implications of transitioning to a cost-equivalent defined benefit plan under which teachers would earn…

Purpose: This paper draws on data from a research project that examined the professional relationships that existed between teachers of different generations within an educational setting, including both those inside and outside school. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative approach was adopted to better understand participants'…

During the late 1990s public pension funds across the United States accrued large actuarial surpluses. The seemingly flush conditions of the pension funds led legislators in most states to substantially improve retirement benefits for public workers, including teachers. In this study we examine the benefit enhancements to the teacher pension…

Pensions are a promise made today of benefits to be received tomorrow. They reward employees, including public school teachers, who remain working in a system for extended periods, often for their entire careers. And they impose large costs on those who leave before reaching retirement eligibility--all in the hopes of encouraging them to stay.…

This holistic single-case study design grounded by Sternberg's Triarchic Theory of Intelligence explores the perspectives of renowned emeriti engineering faculty on the future of the engineering professoriate and the factors that can lead to a successful professional trajectory for early-career, tenure-track engineering faculty. The emeriti…

The "purpose" of this study was to understand the perspectives of recently retired principals who were mentors to new school leaders in a high-need urban school district. Mentors reflected on the mentoring needs and challenges faced by new school leaders while also reflecting on their own careers as school principals. This study was…

Teacher turnover occurs during and at the end of the school year, although documentation of within-year turnover currently rests on anecdotal evidence. On average, over 4.6% of teachers turn over during the school year, which amounts to 25% of total annual turnover. Teachers transfer within districts at higher rates at the beginning of the school…

We use data from workers in the largest public-sector occupation in the United States -- teaching -- to examine the effect of pension enhancements on employee retention. Specifically, we study a 1999 enhancement to the benefit formula for public school teachers in St. Louis that resulted in an immediate and dramatic increase in their incentives to…

The issue of science teacher turnover has been examined in many national studies, yet most educational policies related to teacher preparation and student performance are determined at the state level. There has been a lack of research that explores this issue in specific science domains. The present nonexperimental longitudinal study examined…

Pension legacy costs can restrict the amount of resources available for current public education, potentially making it more difficult to attract and retain high-quality teachers. Oregon provides a useful case study in pension legacy costs because many school districts in the state are now reallocating General Fund expenditures to cover sizeable…

Barriers to the cross-state mobility of the teacher workforce can have undesirable effects on the teacher workforce and student outcomes. While a large literature addresses issues related to within-state mobility, very little is known about patterns of cross-state mobility. This paper addresses that research gap. We describe features of Oregon's…

When California students returned to school in fall 2019, hundreds of thousands returned to classrooms staffed by substitutes and teachers who were not fully prepared to teach. In recent years, California has experienced widespread shortages of elementary and secondary teachers as districts and schools seek to restore class sizes and course…

This study evaluates the impact of the Retired Mentors for New Teachers program, a two-year mentoring program at the elementary school level developed by Aurora Public Schools in Colorado. Many of the district's schools serve a large percentage of economically disadvantaged children, experience high teacher turnover, and hire newer, less…

During the late 1990s public pension funds across the United States accrued large actuarial surpluses. The seemingly flush conditions of the pension funds led legislators in most states to substantially improve retirement benefits for public workers, including teachers. In this study we examine the benefit enhancements to the teacher pension…

There have long been anecdotal reports that some Maine districts have difficulty filling vacancies and retaining teachers. This is a common lament for schools in rural areas, and for schools across the state in hiring teachers for certain subject areas-namely math, science, special education, and foreign languages. Current policy initiatives in…