More than 80 experts convened to discuss and debate the controversial field of teacher retirement benefit systems at a conference in February at Peabody. The conference, co-hosted by the National Center on Performance Incentives at Vanderbilt, drew scholars from universities and research institutions across the country to discuss the design and implications of teacher retirement systems used in the American K-12 public education system.
“The subject of teacher pensions is a critical and understudied area for education reform, both because of the effects on the teacher workforce and on school finance. Districts are looking for new ways to recruit and retain high quality teachers in their on-going efforts to raise student achievement and narrow achievement gaps, and the structure of retirement benefits is a potentially important factor,” said Matthew Springer, NCPI director and research assistant professor of public policy and education at Peabody. “Many states and districts also face increasing costs for their current retirement benefit systems—possibly exacerbated by recent developments in the value of pension funds.”
The conference, “Rethinking Teacher Retirement Benefit Systems Benefits,” was hosted jointly by NCPI, the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas and the University of Missouri-Columbia.
The papers commissioned for the conference, as well as more information about the issue and speakers, are available on the NCPI Web site: www.performanceincentives.org/conference/conference2009.asp.