NCPI affiliate researcher Michael Podgursky is featured for his research on teacher pensions in the November 14 online issue of Education Week. The article focuses upon research conducted by Dr. Podgursky and Dr. Robert Costrell that indicates state pension formulas encourage teachers to retire in their mid-50s, while penalizing them for teaching past that age. As millions of baby-boomer teacher near retirements, the researchers found their decisions to leave the classroom are guided more by early retirement incentives in their state pension plans than by educational considerations. State pension systems, while different across states, reward teachers who stay in the same job for 20-plus years, penalize them for teaching too long, and make it difficult for teachers to move to different jobs. The researchers suggest the need for states to re-evaluate their plans “from the bottom up.”

A copy of the original research article will be published in the Winter 2008 issue of Education Next.

To view the Education Week article, please click here.