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…

Gov. Scott Walker's sweeping proposal to scale back collective bargaining rights for most public employees in Wisconsin has sparked a rancorous standoff with teachers across the state--and fueled speculation about whether similar plans will gain traction in other parts of the country. But as massive demonstrations played out in Madison--an…

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…

In this article we focus on two questions: How well do teachers understand their current pension plans, and what do they think about alternative plan structures? The data come from administrative records and a 2006 survey of teachers in Washington State. The results suggest that Washington's teachers are fairly knowledgeable about their pensions,…

International comparatives studies in education provide a fresh perspective on K-12 education policy be enabling countries to learn from each other's approaches. The recently conducted Teacher Education and Development Study-Mathematics (TEDS-M) provided us with a world-wide lens to examine some of our practices related to the preparation of U.S.…

This report presents data from the School District Finance Survey (F-33) of the Common Core of Data (CCD) survey system for school year (SY) 2010-11, fiscal year 2011 (FY 11). The F-33 survey is a school district-level financial survey that consists of data submitted annually to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and the…

This case involves a struggle for control among differently situated leaders--district- and building-level administrators, teachers, parents and community members, and university partners--seeking to influence the reform agenda of a high-poverty urban elementary school serving Latina/Latino students. The various stakeholders encounter a variety of…

A misplaced obsession with the size of federal budget deficits remains the single biggest obstacle to enacting new measures to create jobs on a scale commensurate with the crisis in the American labor market. Even assuming that budget scoring rules can't be changed, at the very least policy makers should be aware of the true impact a given piece…

Grant regulations under the Education Minutes of 1846 prohibited ministers of religion teaching in aided schools. This article examines the background to this professional disability, the extent of its application and its survival for 112 years. The impact of changing social conditions and the creation of new justifications as the policy became…

There is broad agreement that teacher quality is related to student achievement, but there is far less agreement about the degree to which school districts and administrators are constrained in making policies to improve teacher quality that might also affect teacher employment and working conditions. Conventional wisdom holds that state law and…

In the Year of the Schoolteacher, the issue of how to enhance the pedagogical worker's status takes on special urgency. Unfortunately, the problem has been addressed only on the regional level, with each region doing things its own way. The teaching profession in Russia is hampered by poor prestige, low incomes, and inadequate resources and living…

Although benefits can be a sizable part of an educator's total compensation, there has been little scholarly inquiry into the state pension plans for educators. Despite the fact that all defined benefit plans rely on the same basic formula for calculating annual pensions, they vary across states in the multiplier used, the method for calculating…

State-level battles over changes in education policy have shifted in many places from legislative chambers to courthouses, as unions and other critics of new laws challenge them on the grounds that they violate state constitutions and worker contracts. Republican governors and lawmakers--their ranks bolstered by the 2010 elections--won passage…

Instrumental music teaching occupies a significant portion of the protean career of a musician. Musicians teach their instrument in schools, conservatoires and in private studios. The aim of this paper is to identify educational opportunities available for the education of musicians as instrumental music teachers, to discuss issues associated with…