March 2023
A newly released special issue of Educational Researcher, titled “Teacher Pensions: Implications for Retention, Compensation, Quality, and Equity,” presents research on a variety of policy issues surrounding teacher pensions. This issue is provided open access on the AERA website.
The introduction to the special issue explores why teacher pensions should be of interest to the broader education research community. After explaining how pension plans work, the special issue guest editors, Kata Mihaly (RAND Corporation) and Michael Podgursky (University of Missouri, Columbia, and Saint Louis University), provide a brief literature review followed by a discussion of how the special issue contributes to the literature on a range of subject areas. The editors discuss the three topics related to teacher pensions that are covered in this issue: work force effects, teacher preferences, and plan sustainability.
The editors conclude that an important theme throughout the issue is that “pension plans create important incentives that shape teachers’ behavior and the teaching workforce. As education policy makers seek ways to staff classrooms with high-quality teachers, particularly in high-need schools, it is important to consider the ways in which teacher pension plans, and changes in these plans, can help or hinder these efforts.”
In addition to the introduction, the special issue includes the following articles and commentaries:
Feature Articles
Commentaries
Learn more about Educational Researcher on the AERA website.