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…

Receiving mentoring is associated with lasting career benefits ; however, less is known about long-term career gains for mentors. A national sample of retired academics were surveyed to examine associations between past mentoring behaviors and current evaluations of their careers. Participants (N = 277) were on average 73.6 (SD = 6.2) years old…

To improve the finances of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, which serves almost 1.5 million workers and retirees, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed legislation in spring 2019 that gradually raises plan contributions by the state, school districts, and employees. Additional contribution hikes may be necessary to close the plan's funding gap,…

For the last two decades, Ohio has given its new public school teachers choices among retirement plans. Early in their employment, they are handed a form that allows them to opt for a traditional pension plan, a 401(k)-style defined-contribution (DC) plan, or a plan that combines elements of each. If they make no affirmative decision at all--that…

Defined benefit (DB) pension systems determine the size of pension payments using an employee's "final average salary". Thus, employees enrolled in DB pension systems face an incentive to "salary spike" -- strategically increase late career pensionable compensation -- to increase their retirement income. This is an important…

In 2019, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) began exploratory data collection for the School Pension Survey (SPS). The SPS is a new data collection of elementary/secondary school teacher pension data collected at the school district level. The SPS was developed primarily in response to public demand for data on teacher and other…

Jane Frazee, an American music educator, administrator, and author has contributed to music education in the United States. This article surveys the impact of her efforts from 1960 to 2015. A pioneer member and past president of the American Orff-Schulwerk Association (AOSA), she taught music to children and adults using the Orff approach and has…

Do employees at public colleges and universities have better retirement benefits than K-12 employees? This is the central question in the new report "Choice and Quality Among Retirement Plans for Educators." To answer this question, we evaluate the quality of higher education and K-12 retirement plans using five key variables: (1)…

This research examined the decisions of retiring university teachers to continue work after retirement in the same profession or leave for other employment or non-paid activities. The study used a questionnaire to collect data from 231 respondents purposively drawn from 20 Ghanaian public universities. Analyses of the data revealed that most…

This paper examines the influence of Iranian teacher unions on educational policy reforms, focusing on the evolution of teacher unions over the past two decades. Our key finding reveals a shift in the discourse and mental model of Iranian teacher unions, with an increased emphasis on education policy changes for quality and equity education.…

The challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic led districts and schools to experiment with new staffing and support structures to meet students' academic, emotional, and physical safety needs. Shortages of teachers and substitute teachers, challenging conditions for student teaching, and early retirements all became pressing issues during this time.…

The decades between tenure and retirement constitute the longest yet least understood period of a faculty member's career. Previous research depicts the midcareer as fraught with reduced job and career satisfaction, lowered productivity, and even stagnation. However, we suggest a reframing of this period. Drawing on data from surveys and…

This study is a pioneer study that examines the advantages of faculty employment after retirement age from the perspective of academic faculty. The economic-industrial literature suggests that prior experience is a major consideration in the industry, particularly in the process of selecting suppliers, and the weight given to occupational…

The transition from a busy work life to a retired state entails a lot of adjustment, planning, and wise decision-making. While there have been numerous studies that elucidate retirement issues across the globe, the need to know about retirement preferences of middle-aged and older teachers remains a blank spot in the literature, hence this…

In "Are Texas Teacher Retirement Benefits Adequate?," authors Chad Aldeman and Anthony Randazzo analyze the Teachers' Retirement System (TRS) of Texas and find it is not serving all of its members well. Most members will leave their teaching service in Texas with inadequate retirement benefits, and the unfunded liabilities the system has…