Highlights

Effects of Weakening or Eliminating Teacher Tenure

• Did New Evaluations and Weaker Tenure Make Fewer People Want to Become Teachers? A New Study Says Yes, Chalkbeat
  “After states put in place new evaluation and tenure rules, the number of new teaching licenses issued dropped substantially — a finding that researchers said suggests fewer people were interested in the job.” (2018) (The working paper referenced in this article may be found here.)
• When Union Protections Disappear, Poor Schools Lose Teachers, New Research Finds, Chalkbeat
  “Focusing on Michigan, the researchers find that a spate of teacher-focused policy changes passed in 2011 and 2012 did not cause an overall increase in teacher turnover. But at schools with lower test scores or more students in poverty, teacher churn jumped.” (2017) (The working paper referenced in this article may be found here.)
• Attacks on Public-Sector Unions Harm States: How Act 10 Has Affected Education in Wisconsin, Center for American Progress
  “Rather than encouraging the best and brightest students to become teachers and to remain in the field throughout their career, the law appears to have had the opposite effect by devaluing teaching and driving many teachers out of Wisconsin’s public schools.” (2017)
• Gutting Wisconsin Teachers Unions Hurt Students, Study Finds, Chalkbeat
  “Weakening unions led to declines in test scores, particularly in math and science… And the harm was not evenly distributed: Schools that started out furthest behind were hurt the most, while higher achieving schools saw no impact.” (The working paper referenced in this article may be found here.)
• When Tenure Ends: Teacher Turnover in Response to Policy Changes in Louisiana, Education Research Alliance for New Orleans
  “Tenure reform is responsible for the exit of 1,500 to 1,700 teachers in the first two years after the removal of tenure protections, a loss of 3.0 to 3.5% of Louisiana’s teacher workforce.” (2017)
• Teacher Tenure Has a Long History and, Hopefully, a Future, Phi Delta Kappan
  “Teacher tenure is under fire as a barrier to improving education. A close examination of the history and role of teacher tenure yields many more reasons to keep and strengthen it.” (2016)
• Taking on Teacher Tenure Backfires, New York Times
  “Eliminating tenure will do little to address the real barriers to effective teaching in impoverished schools, and may even make them worse.” (2014) (A prepublication version of the research article referenced in this op-ed may be found here.)
• Teachers, “Tenure,” Due Process, and Truly Helping Disadvantaged Children, Economic Policy Institute
  “The most significant problem facing struggling schools—in California and across the country—is not getting rid of a handful of bad teachers, but, rather attracting and retaining the good ones we desperately need.” (2014)

Public Education Pension Plans

• Characteristics of Public Education Pension Plans (  PDF, 4,79 MB, 222 pgs.)

Rankings & Estimates

• Rankings & Estimates: Rankings of the States 2018 and Estimates of School Statistics 2019

Investments in Public Education

• The Cost of Corporate Tax Avoidance
  When corporations avoid paying taxes, public education gets shortchanged. See NEA Education Policy and Practice series of charts that reflect the costs. (2011)
• The Effects of State Public K–12 Education Expenditures On Income Distribution
  This study explores the effects of public education expenditures on distribution of income among people in the United States. (2004)
• K-12 Education in the U.S. Economy
  This NEA Research paper covers K-12 education's impact on economic development, earnings, and housing values. (2004)