To learn more about the early career patterns of beginning teachers, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) of the Institute of Education Sciences within the U.S. Department of Education undertook the Beginning Teacher Longitudinal Study (BTLS). The ultimate purpose of this report is to develop a strategy for the longitudinal analysis…

Defined Benefit pension plans often generate odd time patterns of benefits. One typical pattern exhibits low accrual in early years, accelerating in mid-late years, followed by dramatic decline, or even negative returns in years that are relatively young for retirement. We consider four states for specific analysis: Arkansas, Missouri, California…

Most public elementary and high school teachers are covered by health insurance provided by their employer while they are employed. In most cases, these health plans are managed at the state level. At retirement, teachers with sufficient years of service are allowed to remain in the health plan. Retiree health plans for teachers vary widely across…

This paper is about the funding status of teachers' retirement pension schemes. Its goal is to relate the accounting for the funding of these pension obligations to the endemic, systematic, and fundamentally fraudulent system of accounting our country uses to assess the financial positions of federal, state, and local government as well as many…

Little is known about the impact of the end of mandatory retirement on professors over the long term. This follow-up study investigated the ten-year experience of professors who chose not to retire from a major research university after the elimination of the age 70 mandatory retirement in 1994. The initial interview study was conducted in 1998…

Community college leadership programs may take a variety of forms, among them university-based programs, leadership institutes, community college-based "grow your own" programs, professional organization-based institutes, or a combination of these. University-based doctorate leadership programs are the principal providers of these…

The teaching force in the United States is facing an impending crisis, one that Scherff (2008) describes as a "perfect storm," due to massive retirements, increasing impractical mandates related to the No Child Left Behind Act, and an alarmingly high teacher attrition rate. This unprecedented crisis in both the supply and retention of…

Working with Richard Ingersoll, professor of Education and Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future (NCTAF) examined and analyzed data from the "Schools and Staffing Survey" (SASS), the largest and most comprehensive source of data on teachers, gathered from a nationally…

The Ohio State Teacher Retirement System (STRS) provides retirement, survivor, and disability benefits to public school (K-12) teachers, college and university professors employed by state institutions, and the spouses and eligible dependents of these employees. In doing so, it operates much like other state retirement systems. The money to…

This article explores the future of teacher labor markets. The authors find that teacher hiring needs will rise over the coming decade largely because of retirements. However, this increase will not be significantly different from that of past decades. (Contains 7 notes and 3 figures.)

At our university about 40% of the full-time faculty members are 55 years of age or older, which led me to consider what a difference they could make in this world if, upon retirement, they used their knowledge, skills, and talents to benefit others. Four dimensions that can serve to differentiate effective from ineffective educators and people…

Problems associated with school violence include higher than average teacher turnover, increased student dropout rates, students changing schools, and principals/teachers retiring early. There are 19 strategies offered that might reduce school violence.

This article talks about the retired faculty members from different types of institutions around the country that were interviewed to find out how well their preparations for retirement are serving them now. Like other state employees in California, faculty members at public institutions participate in the California Public Employees' Retirement…

This article presents an interview with Amy Lum Fern, Hawai'i Department of Education teacher from 1933 to 1972. Amy Lum Fern was born in Honolulu in 1909. She received her early education at Central Grammar School and later attended McKinley High School. After graduating from McKinley in 1928, she entered the University of Hawai'i, where she…