The National Center on Performance Incentives is hosted its second annual conference in February 2009 entitled Rethinking Teacher Retirement Benefit Systems. The conference brought together scholars from renowned 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 conference was hosted by the National Center on Performance Incentives and funded in partnership by an anonymous foundation and the Department of Education Reform at University of Arkansas.

We invite you to learn more about the 2009 conference proceedings using the resources below.

• Click hereto read a research brief summarizing research findings presented at the conference.
• Click hereto review a program of the conference agenda and panel discussions
• Click here to learn more about the speakers featured at the conference.
• Click here to access the papers presented at the conference.
• Click here to read comments on select conference papers.

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. 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.”