Principal Alison Harris is blunt in describing what she confronted on her arrival to Ranson IB Middle School in 2011. "I was placed in what many people would call an impossible situation," she says. During her initial visit to the school in 2009-10, she watched as students changed classes--while teachers pressed against the lockers to…

Over the past few years, as cash-strapped states and school districts have faced tough budget decisions, spending on teacher compensation has come under the microscope. The underlying question is whether teachers are fairly paid, underpaid, or overpaid. In this forum, two pairs of respected economists offer very different answers. Andrew Biggs of…

A year ago at ASBO International's Annual Meeting and Expo in Seattle, Washington, school business officials from four states presented a powerful double-session panel on the status of changes in teacher contracts and educational funding in their regions of the country. The presenters have since updated their comments with new information and…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper (based on the relevant literature) is to: investigate, through empirical analysis, primary school teachers' perceptions regarding their job satisfaction, and examine whether or not the personal characteristics of primary school educators (such as gender, age, family status, educational level, and the total years…

Since 2008, the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) has been conducting a survey every few years on campus sustainability staffing. This report presents the results of the 2015 Higher Education Sustainability Staffing Survey. It examines the nature of sustainability positions at colleges and universities…

Teacher quality experts are urging policymakers to identify and target expert teachers and entice them to teach in high-needs schools. To understand what this might take, expert teachers in Arizona were surveyed to understand their job-related preferences to inform future recruitment policies. Findings should inform others about the important…

Teachers' initial placement has important implications for student achievement and the distribution of teachers among schools. This paper combines data from a US Baccalaureate and Beyond longitudinal study with school and school district information from the Common Core of Data to study the effects of initial school placement on teacher mobility.…

The Pittsburgh Public Schools study is the 12th district study since the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) began studying districts in-depth in 2009. The intent of these studies is to give select communities a comprehensive look at what is happening in their local school districts that may be either helping or hurting teacher quality, and…

Leaders of the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) charter schools are optimistic that they can reach a long-term agreement with the Baltimore (Maryland) Teachers Union in a nationally watched dispute over teacher pay for an extended school day, reducing the likelihood that the charter network will carry out its threat to close its two schools in…

When most people think of the perks of teaching, an image that comes to mind is a shiny apple presented by a gap-toothed pupil. A recent paper by Jason Richwine of the Heritage Foundation and Andrew Biggs of the American Enterprise Institute claims that public school teachers enjoy lavish benefits that are more valuable than their base pay and…

Discussions of teacher turnover usually focus on "how many" teachers leave schools each year, without regard for their performance in the classroom. This oversimplification masks the real teacher retention crisis: not only a failure to retain enough teachers, but a failure to retain the "right" teachers. This executive summary presents findings of…

Earlier research published in this journal examined factors associated with various forms of job satisfaction among part-time faculty, both at four-year institutions and community colleges. This research forwarded conclusions at odds with popular accounts regarding part-time faculty. Specifically, it was demonstrated that part-time faculty were…

Greensboro College has many of the intimate hallmarks of a small, private, liberal-arts college. Professors give their cellphone numbers to students and routinely provide extra help to those who need it. Classes at the North Carolina institution average 14 people. One of the students featured on the college Web site is a biology major who plays on…

From 2001 to 2006, following a request from the Scottish Executive, HMIE gathered evidence about the implementation of "A Teaching Profession for the 21st Century", the tri-partite agreement prepared in 2001 by Scottish Executive, COSLA and the teachers' unions. This "teachers' agreement" had been drawn up in response to the…

Among the most visible indicators of a shift toward sustainability in higher education is the increase in new staff positions dedicated to sustainability, along with support staff and offices. To provide our members with a greater understanding of these new positions, AASHE has been conducting a biennial survey of campus sustainability staff since…