This study focuses on the benefits of early retirement as a policy to ease the adjustment process as public school districts and state universities encounter the problem of declining enrollments. Early retirement as one means of reduction in force, and as a means of saving money, has been adopted by 36 Illinois school districts. This paper…

The question of the viability of tenure for college faculty is considered in three papers. In "The History of Tenure," Walter P. Metzger considers the history of academic tenure and the history of opposition to this practice. It is concluded that tenure continues to be a vital institution and has provided a better quality faculty. Its…

The 1979 Nationwide Teacher Opinion Poll conducted by the National Education Association was sent to 2,148 of the nation's approximately 2,185,000 public school teachers. The response rate to the poll was 82.7 percent. In this report the analysis of the responses are grouped according to the following topical areas: (1) teacher demographics; (2)…

CASE DIGESTS OF 70 STATE AND 13 FEDERAL JUDICIAL DECISIONS OF PARTICULAR INTEREST TO TEACHERS AND OTHER PROFESSIONAL SCHOOL PERSONNEL IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES ARE ARRANGED BY STATE AND CLASSIFIED UNDER 11 HEADINGS--(1) CERTIFICATION AND ELIGIBILITY--7, (2) SALARIES--9, (3) CONTRACTS--16, (4) TENURE--23, (5) SCHOOL DESEGREGATION--3, (6) CIVIL…

School districts in Vermont are organized generally along town boundary lines with no clear distinction between town and school governmental units. State financial distributions are usually made to the town, and taxes are billed and collected by the town. There is a need for school district reorganization in terms of larger unified or 12-grade…

This report contains digests of 1967 court decisions dealing with legal and constitutional issues of importance to teachers. All levels of the State and Federal judiciary systems are represented by the decisions. The 82 case digests are arranged under the following topic headings: (1) Eligibility and certification, (2) salaries, (3) contracts, (4)…

This document describes a potential crisis at Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC) due to the large numbers of faculty who are approaching or have already reached retirement age. NVCC is the third largest community college in the nation, made up of five campuses, soon to be six, and an Extended Learning Institute for distance learning. NVCC…

This report discusses the results of a survey that examined the emeritus status of faculty and administrators at 24 community colleges across the country, with particular reference to such issues as emeritus eligibility, benefits, and coverage. It discusses the definition of emeritus in the second section. In the third segment, the rationale of…

School systems encountering declining enrollments also face an increasing proportion of senior faculty drawing high salaries. There are no hard data on demographics of the teaching professions or research which supports any relationship between age and quality of teaching. Crucial research questions remain which gerontologists could help answer.…

Draws on recent data from surveys and research conducted by the U.S. Department of Education to sketch the outline of the approaching changes in the teacher labor market and to comment on the issue of teacher quality. Enduring teacher quality requires institutional reform in the teacher preparation and compensation system. (SM)

Based on a labor market analysis and studies of prospective faculty retirement trends in the absence of mandatory retirement, two different considerations are seen as influencing academic staffing: an acceleration of faculty leaving the professions, and the refusal of ineffective faculty to retire. (MSE)

Examines plausible personal and school-related patterns believed to contribute to changes in teachers' career patterns over a relatively long time. Results with samples of 455 current and 331 former teachers demonstrate several predictors of teacher persistence. Career patterns varied depending on subjects taught, teacher background, and other…

Eliminating mandatory retirement for tenured professors will force institutions to reassess their relationships with older faculty. Institutions should not abolish or modify existing tenure policies, which might erode academic freedom, but should instead adopt and consistently apply performance review procedures. (Author/MSE)

Discusses the approach taken by Cornell University (New York) to the end of mandatory retirement for faculty, noting the differences between the private and publicly assisted colleges that form the university. Topics addressed include the construction of the retirement plans, demographics of the faculty population, changing faculty expectations of…

A survey of 322 University of Queensland (Australia) faculty found changes in attitudes about retirement age and about terms and conditions of employment at later ages. Implications are discussed and barriers to more flexible faculty employment are examined, including the current structure of retirement benefits, taxes, and flexible retirement;…