Teacher Retirement Preferences and Behavior

This dissertation focuses on teacher retirement systems. The defined benefit pension plans that cover K-12 public school teachers in most states face two major problems: they may not be financially sustainable as large numbers of teachers retire in the coming years, and they may not be serving to re...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Ettema, Elizabeth Anne
Other Authors: Mimi Engel
Format: Others
Language:en
Published: VANDERBILT 2011
Subjects:
Online Access:http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/available/etd-10042011-152701/
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spelling ndltd-VANDERBILT-oai-VANDERBILTETD-etd-10042011-1527012013-01-08T17:16:53Z Teacher Retirement Preferences and Behavior Ettema, Elizabeth Anne Leadership and Policy Studies This dissertation focuses on teacher retirement systems. The defined benefit pension plans that cover K-12 public school teachers in most states face two major problems: they may not be financially sustainable as large numbers of teachers retire in the coming years, and they may not be serving to recruit and retain a high-quality teaching force. I propose that in order for pensions to serve as a policy lever to attract and retain high-quality teachers, three conditions must be met. First, teachers must understand their retirement plans and the incentives imbedded therein. Second, they must value these incentives. Finally, the incentives must be aligned with the desired pattern(s) of retirement behavior. This dissertation investigates the extent to which each of these conditions is being met using data from the Schools and Staffing Survey and Teacher Follow-Up Survey as well as original data collected via a survey and embedded focus groups. It also outlines how pensions could be reformed to be better aligned with desired retirement behavior to recruit and retain high-quality teachers. Mimi Engel Michael Podgursky James W. Guthrie William Doyle VANDERBILT 2011-12-08 text application/pdf http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/available/etd-10042011-152701/ http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/available/etd-10042011-152701/ en unrestricted I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to Vanderbilt University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report.
collection NDLTD
language en
format Others
sources NDLTD
topic Leadership and Policy Studies
spellingShingle Leadership and Policy Studies
Ettema, Elizabeth Anne
Teacher Retirement Preferences and Behavior
description This dissertation focuses on teacher retirement systems. The defined benefit pension plans that cover K-12 public school teachers in most states face two major problems: they may not be financially sustainable as large numbers of teachers retire in the coming years, and they may not be serving to recruit and retain a high-quality teaching force. I propose that in order for pensions to serve as a policy lever to attract and retain high-quality teachers, three conditions must be met. First, teachers must understand their retirement plans and the incentives imbedded therein. Second, they must value these incentives. Finally, the incentives must be aligned with the desired pattern(s) of retirement behavior. This dissertation investigates the extent to which each of these conditions is being met using data from the Schools and Staffing Survey and Teacher Follow-Up Survey as well as original data collected via a survey and embedded focus groups. It also outlines how pensions could be reformed to be better aligned with desired retirement behavior to recruit and retain high-quality teachers.
author2 Mimi Engel
author_facet Mimi Engel
Ettema, Elizabeth Anne
author Ettema, Elizabeth Anne
author_sort Ettema, Elizabeth Anne
title Teacher Retirement Preferences and Behavior
title_short Teacher Retirement Preferences and Behavior
title_full Teacher Retirement Preferences and Behavior
title_fullStr Teacher Retirement Preferences and Behavior
title_full_unstemmed Teacher Retirement Preferences and Behavior
title_sort teacher retirement preferences and behavior
publisher VANDERBILT
publishDate 2011
url http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/available/etd-10042011-152701/
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