Search

Further education (FE) plays a key part in the post-16 educational landscape in England in delivering technical and academic education that is vital to the country's supply of skilled workers. Yet, despite this importance, the sector has been facing significant challenges in recent years, including critical staff shortages in some subject areas. Data and research on FE teaching staff shortages, including their main causes, is limited. However, the available research points towards a deterioration in real-terms pay for FE teachers, and the resulting emergence of pay gaps with industry and teachers in other settings, as a likely contributor. This research utilised a mixed-methods research design to build upon existing literature and provide new insights on the FE workforce, including estimates of the magnitude of pay disparities between FE teaching and industry. The research also explores other factors that may impact on recruitment and retention, alongside pay. As this was an exploratory research project, its scope was focussed specifically on the technical education routes where the research suggests both pay gaps for FE teachers relative to 'outside' industry occupations (Lake et al., 2018) and unfilled vacancy rates are the highest (DfE, 2023c): (1) Construction and the built environment, (2) Engineering and manufacturing and (3) Digital. The project involved the collection of interview data from teaching staff and heads of departments in our focus subjects working in general FE colleges.

The U.S. has witnessed a resurgence of labor activism, with teachers at the forefront. We examine how teacher strikes affect compensation, working conditions, and productivity with an original dataset of 772 teacher strikes generating 48 million student days idle between 2007 and 2023. Using an event study framework, we find that, on average, strikes increase compensation by 8% and lower pupil-teacher ratios by 0.5 students, driven by new state revenues. We find little evidence of sizable impacts on student achievement up to five years post-strike, though strikes lasting 10 or more days decrease math achievement in the short-term.

The expansion of early childhood education (ECE) and increased spending have benefited children and supported families. However, these investments have not addressed inequities within the ECE workforce. ECE providers face economic insecurity, earning an average of $14 per hour, which is below a living wage. In rural communities, this median wage drops to $11.42, and in Tennessee, it is even lower at under $10 per hour. Women of color, especially in rural areas, are disproportionately affected by poor compensation and benefits. To address these issues, this project partners with an organization called Tennessee Early Childhood Training Alliance (TECTA) to understand the experiences of ECE providers in an effort to raise awareness of: (1) the benefits of the TECTA program and the resources they provide; (2) the key challenges and barriers they navigate on the pathway to their education; and (3) the need for program expansion to enable opportunities for social and economic mobility. This study underscores the need for systemic changes to support ECE providers, particularly in rural areas and other marginalized communities. By addressing economic insecurity, professional recognition, training disparities, and policy inconsistencies, we can create a more equitable and effective ECE workforce.

The Octavius V. Catto Scholarship launched in spring 2021 at Community College of Philadelphia (CCP) to help Philadelphians achieve college success. Inspired by 19th-century civil rights leader Octavius Catto's belief in education for all, the scholarship goes beyond tuition assistance, providing wraparound supports including academic coaching, monthly direct payments, bookstore credits, and referrals to community resources. This initiative, created by former Mayor Jim Kenney, aims to combat poverty by making college more accessible and affordable. RFA conducted a mixed-methods evaluation of the Catto Scholarship aimed at identifying early successes and recommending areas for improvement. The report highlights the role of Success Coaches and other staff in building meaningful connections with Scholars and supporting them in overcoming barriers to retention and completion. The evaluation also presents findings suggesting that persistence and completion are higher among Catto Scholars than non-Catto CCP peers. The report emphasizes the importance of dedicated resources and staff in sustaining the scholarship's success. Recommendations from the evaluation include enhancing support for staff to prevent burnout, creating more community-building opportunities for scholars, and building additional community partnerships to support housing, mental health, transportation, and childcare needs.

Attracting and retaining high-quality teachers is a pressing policy concern. Increasing teacher salaries and creating more attractive compensation packages are often proposed as a potential solution. Signed into law in March 2023, the LEARNS Act increased Arkansas's minimum teacher salary from $36,000 to $50,000, guaranteed all teachers a minimum raise of $2,000, and added flexibility allowing school districts to deviate from seniority-based traditional salary schedules. To study school districts' adjustments to the new legislation, we collected information about districts' teacher compensation policies one year before and the first year of implementation. We also integrated this data with teachers' administrative records to study patterns of teacher retention and mobility. Our results reveal a more equitable distribution of starting teacher salaries across districts, with minimal variation. The LEARNS Act notably increased funding for rural and high-poverty districts, mitigating the negative association between starting salaries and district poverty rates. However, the initial effects on teacher retention and mobility were modest. While some positive trends emerged, such as reduced probabilities of teachers transitioning to non-instructional roles and increased new teacher placement in geographic areas of shortage, broader impacts on retention and mobility were limited in the first year of implementation.

This report explores the higher education financial aid workforce, including pay and pay equity, staffing, representation, and retention. Taken together, the results in this report suggest the need for colleges and universities to implement strategies to better retain people of color within the financial aid employee pipeline and to ensure equitable pay for people of color and women. Further, to encourage retention, institutions of higher education should consider increasing pay and opportunities for remote and flexible work. Institutions should use these findings to consider whether they have sufficient employees (or combination of employees and outsourcing) to handle the workload required of the financial aid office.

Researchers have posited various theories to explain supposed declines in teaching quality: the expansion of labor market opportunities for women, low relative wages, compressed compensation structures, and substituting quantity for quality. We synthesize these previous theories and expand on the current literature by incorporating a useful comparison group: the nursing workforce. We document historical trends in skill level, average and relative wages, wage dispersion, unionization rates, and quantity, and find important divergences in the teaching and nursing professions that cannot be explained by previous theories. We posit two new theories that align with our documented trends: technological innovation and occupational differentiation in nursing. We argue that trends in the nursing profession indicate that declines in teaching quality were (and are) not inevitable.

College students make job decisions without complete information. As a result, they may rely on misleading heuristics ("interesting jobs pay badly") and pursue options misaligned with their goals. We test whether highlighting job characteristics changes decision making. We find increasing the salience of a job's monetary benefits increases the likelihood college students apply by 196%. In contrast, emphasizing prosocial, career, or social benefits has no effect, despite students identifying these benefits as primary motivators for applying. The study highlights the detrimental incongruencies in students' decision making alongside a simple strategy for recruiting college students to jobs that offer enriching experiences.

At the University of Rhode Island (URI), the URI Open Access Fund Committee met in early 2024 to advise the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs on the continuation of the URI Open Access Fund. The URI Open Access Fund was created in 2013 to reimburse URI authors for Article Processing Charges when they published in qualifying Open Access journals and had no other funding available. The committee examined the current Open Access publishing landscape and consulted with two other institutions on their practices. The report of the committee offers the following six recommendations: 1) The URI Open Access Fund should be retired; 2) Hire a Scholarly Communications Librarian to educate faculty on options for making their work open access, on article-level metrics, demonstrating and enhancing the impact of their scholarship, etc.; 3) Encourage URI faculty to make their articles open access by depositing their manuscripts in DigitalCommons@URI in compliance with the URI Open Access Policy; 4) Continue to support Diamond OA initiatives and Subscribe to Open options that provide OA with no author-facing charges and offer alternatives to the large, for-profit academic publishers; 5) Consider support for the membership models of fully open access publishers, e.g. PLoS, MDPI, Frontiers; and 6) Consider participating in Transformative Agreements through consortia such as Lyrasis. A short bibliography is included.

Understanding the best ways to support the well-being of the child care and early education (CCEE) workforce is important for states and CCEE programs. CCEE teachers and caregivers have demanding jobs and receive low compensation for their work--a combination that often negatively affects their well-being. Research has linked CCEE workforce well-being to several important outcomes, including staff turnover, responsiveness to children's needs, and collaborations with families. CCEE teachers and caregivers also have roles outside of their profession, and deserve to be well for themselves and their families. Research on CCEE teacher and caregiver well-being points to the effects they can experience personally, including high levels of stress, low access to food, unstable housing, and putting off medical care because of cost. Historically, research on CCEE workforce well-being has primarily focused on poor mental health (specifically depressive symptoms) and its link to responsive caregiving. This research has focused on disparities in well-being among different types of teachers and caregivers, as well as disparities between the CCEE workforce and other sectors. Only in the past decade have researchers focused on a more holistic definition of well-being, on ways to improve well-being, and on tailored strategies that may be needed to improve CCEE workforce well-being across different types of settings. This brief describes the various aspects of well-being that have been discussed in recent research and some examples of interventions or initiatives that promote CCEE workforce well-being. [This report was was produced through the Child Care and Early Education Research and Policy Analysis (CCEEPRA) project.]

In 2022, the Boston Opportunity Agenda, the Birth to Eight Collaborative and the City of Boston's Office of Early Childhood partnered in the development of this survey of hundreds of early education professionals in the city of Boston, and then expanded its reach to total more than 600 respondents across the state. In it, educators and administrators shared their demographics and educational background, as well as elements of their work experience, wages, and more. Taken together, the data portray a diverse workforce of dedicated professionals who also must manage low wages and long hours in a system that seeks to attract thousands of new workers to replace retiring workers and meet the need for more available early education seats.

The 2023-2024 AASA Superintendent Salary & Benefits Study marks the twelfth consecutive edition of this report. The 2023-2024 version employed a slightly revised and updated survey instrument. The survey tracked the demographics, salary, benefits, and other elements of the employment agreements of school superintendents throughout the country. This year's study results are based on 2,706 complete responses -- the highest response rate since inception of the study in 1999. The survey was distributed online and relied on superintendents responding to 66 items with the understanding that the report of findings would contain no personally identifiable information. Therefore, readers must consider the data descriptive and not necessarily representative of all superintendents. The study is intended to provide superintendents with actionable information needed to negotiate and manage their compensation and benefits.

Early care and education (ECE) programs are central to a thriving community: they support the well-being of children as well as their families. In Contra Costa County, approximately 260 child care centers serve children from birth through age five, along with 765 family child care providers operating in their own homes. These nurturing and vibrant learning environments reflect the ECE workforce, a highly skilled yet undervalued professional group of nearly 4,000 individuals. Building on the "California Early Care and Education Workforce Study," this report provides a snapshot of the state of the licensed ECE workforce in Contra Costa County. Chapter 1 offers a profile of its core members: family child care providers and center-based educators (directors, teachers, and assistants). Chapter 2 describes the state of educator well-being, and Chapter 3 explores stability for center- and home-based programs and for professionals in the field. [This report was funded by First 5 Contra Costa, the Contra Costa County Office of Education/Local Planning Council, the Contra Costa County Employment Human Services Department's Community Services Bureau, and CoCoKids.]

Average-wage-by-major statistics have become widely available to students interested in the economic ramifications of their college major choice. However, earning a major with higher average wages does not necessarily lead individual students to higher-paying careers. This essay combines literature review with novel analysis of longitudinal student outcomes to discuss how students use average-wage-by-major statistics and document seven reasons that they may differ, sharply in some cases, from the causal wage effects of major choice. I focus on the ramifications of two-sided non-random selection into college majors, mismeasurement of longitudinal student outcomes, and failures of extrapolation between available statistics and student interests. While large differences in average wages by major are likely to indicate causal ordinal differences between fields, small differences are probably best ignored even by students with strong interest in the economic consequences of their major choices. This essay is adapted from Chapter 6 of "Metrics that Matter: Counting What's Really Important to College Students."

A committee report accompanying a national defense authorization bill for fiscal year 2022 includes a provision for the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to review the Department of Defense's (DOD's) payroll system for overseas DOD Education Activity employees. This report: (1) describes the status of DOD's efforts to address auditors' prior recommendations to improve its civilian payroll system, which includes overseas DOD Education Activity employees; and (2) examines the process DOD used to calculate overseas DOD Education Activity employees' pay, including base pay, differentials, additional allowances, and deductions, as well as how the department communicated payroll changes to employees. GAO reviewed an extract from a database containing all civilian payroll notices of findings and recommendations as of March 2023 to report on the status of prior recommendations. GAO also examined fiscal year 2021 payroll records (the most recent available at the time of GAO's analysis) and interviewed DOD representatives to gain an understanding of the payroll process. GAO traced payroll records for 10 employees to supporting documentation and verified the calculations using applicable criteria. GAO also reviewed payroll adjustments for 24 employees that were the result of either normal adjustments or payroll errors. Since DOD was not able to provide sufficient supporting documentation timely, the number of DOD Education Activity employees that GAO was able to review was too small to support generalizable conclusions.

The Public School Forum's Top Education Issues outlines the Forum's priorities on what should be at the forefront of education policy decision-making each legislative biennium as the Forum works toward eliminating the systemic inequities that exist throughout the educational system and ensuring that every child has access to a high-quality education. The Forum's 2023-24 Top Issues identified a set of actions that they hoped to see policymakers address during the 2023-2025 legislative biennium. The top education issues for the 2024-2025 biennium include: (1) Ensure fair and competitive compensation for educators; (2) Address the root causes of mental health and school safety crises; (3) Grow, retain, and diversify the teacher pipeline; (4) Prepare students for the world they live in; and (5) Implement, monitor, and evaluate the Comprehensive Remedial Plan. Over the past twelve months, the Forum's team has worked toward and tracked progress on specific metrics for each of their policy priorities. This year's report presents an overview of progress made in year one of the biennium and the significant needs that remain in order to build a stronger and more equitable system of public education in North Carolina.

Recruiting and retaining a well-prepared, stable, and diverse teacher workforce is a critical endeavor to advance student learning and development. However, the persistent teacher shortages across the nation's schools challenge this mission. The teaching profession has been characterized by relatively lower levels of compensation compared to other professions that require equivalent levels of educational attainment, and salaries are often cited both as a reason why college students do not pursue teaching and as a driver of attrition among current teachers. Another barrier to entering and staying in the teaching profession is the cost of investments to become a teacher, along with the cost of attaining a higher degree or additional credential-requirements that have become not only more common for career advancement but also more expensive over time. This report analyzes one condition that is intertwined with teacher compensation, preparation and credentialing, and job-related stress: student loan debt. Against the backdrop of the current state of teaching, the strains arising from student loans and the return to repayment could pose additional challenges not only for teachers but also for policymakers and school leaders who want to support a highly qualified, stable, and diverse teaching workforce. Using data from the National Teacher and Principal Survey from 2020-21, this report describes the state of student loan borrowing and repayment among full-time, public school teachers and explores whether student loan burdens differ by teacher characteristics. The analyses also examine the extent to which student loan debt is associated with teachers' well-being and employment decisions. The report concludes with recommendations that support the expansion of programs that alleviate or minimize the costs of comprehensive teacher preparation and credentialing; improve teaching conditions; and promote high-quality preparation, career advancement, and retention. [This research was supported by Skyline Foundation.]

Despite the contributions of their work to the learning and development of young children, child care and early education (CCEE) educators are among the lowest paid workers in the United States and have high rates of turnover in their jobs. In a pioneering effort, Washington, DC has launched the nation's first large-scale, publicly funded program to supplement CCEE educator wages. The Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund (PEF) was created to achieve compensation equity with DC Public Schools teachers. This initiative, launched in Fall 2022, delivered initial lump sum payments ranging from $10,000 to $14,000 to approximately 3,000 CCEE educators across the city. This policy research brief shares findings from a study using quasi-experimental methods to examine the immediate impacts of these initial payments on CCEE employment levels in Washington, DC. The analysis uses synthetic control methods and data from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages for the period between 2019 and 2022.

Parenting students work hard every day to pursue their goals, often juggling work, classes, and caregiving responsibilities. Public systems and programs can provide critical support, but frequently create additional hurdles for parenting students and their families--especially those with low incomes. In 2022, the Center for the Study of Social Policy and Project SPARC conducted research to better understand the barriers experienced by parenting students participating in CalWORKs, California's cash assistance program for families with children. This brief highlights findings from the research on parenting students' experiences with child care. For parenting students, the lack of accessible and affordable child care is a significant barrier because parents must first ensure that their children are taken care of before they can dedicate time and energy to class, study time, and work.

The West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) Office of Federal Programs conducted a routine monitoring of Upshur County in December of 2022. This resulted in a report of findings which was completed February 10, 2023. Per Federal Program protocols, counties are provided 60 days to respond to findings; establishing Upshur County's deadline for response as May 8, 2023. The State Superintendent of Schools notified the Office of Accountability the week of May 8, 2023, of his intent to commence a Special Circumstance Review of Upshur County Schools. This put into motion planning phases inclusive of team members from the Offices of Accountability, Federal Programs, and Finance. The team began its Special Circumstance Review of Upshur County Schools on May 22, 2023. The review process, consisting of interviews and document review, is being conducted as outlined in West Virginia Board of Education (WVBE) Policy 2322: West Virginia System of Support and Accountability. The review team compiled the information gathered thus far during the onsite review. This report will be presented to the West Virginia Board of Education (WVBE) at the June 2023 meeting. The Review is on-going.

The Prospective Students Survey is one of the Graduate Management Admission Council's (GMAC) keystone research programs. The global graduate management education (GME) community has relied on data from this survey to gain insights about candidates' decision-making processes when considering and applying to graduate business schools since 2009. The findings detailed in this report are based on responses from a total of 2,710 individuals surveyed between January and December 2022. Prospective students who responded represent those interested in various MBA and business master's program categories, including full-time MBA, professional MBA, executive MBA, master's in management and international management, and other specialized business master's programs. Responses used for analysis included candidates who are at different stages of the GME journey, including those who are actively applying to business schools or currently doing research about graduate business degrees. This year, the information gleaned from the Prospective Students Survey is being released in a nine-part series for easier consumption and improved user experience. This overview report contains the following sections: (1) Career Aspirations; (2) Career Goals; (3) Industries of Interest; (4) Job Functions of Interest; and (5) Methodology. [The following individuals made significant contributions to the publication of this report: Quan Yuan, Alexandria Williams, and Kun Yuan.]

Research shows that students derive both social-emotional and academic benefits from a diverse educator workforce. The state has taken notable steps to prioritize a more diverse educator workforce in recent years. These include: (1) convening a California Department of Education (CDE) Educator Diversity Advisory Group, tasked with offering recommendations on recruiting and retaining greater numbers of educators of diverse backgrounds; (2) establishing coursework alternatives to standardized tests that have historically served as a barrier to access for candidates of diverse backgrounds who want to enter the teaching profession; and (3) making significant investments in teacher residencies and financial supports for teacher candidates. Nonetheless, the state has not yet established a clear vision and comprehensive action plan to recruit, prepare, and sustain an educator workforce whose diversity reflects that of California's students. To help set a statewide agenda, Californians for Justice (CFJ), The Education Trust--West (ETW), and Public Advocates (PA) partnered to develop a community-informed educator diversity road map. We reviewed research about educator diversity, including the recommendations issued by the CDE Educator Diversity Advisory Group, and compiled a list of proposals for the state on how to recruit, prepare, and retain educators of diverse backgrounds. Next, we recruited students, parents, educators, and administrators to participate in focus groups to discuss these proposals and offer insight and feedback. Although the focus group participants, particularly students, highlighted the need for and importance of an educator workforce that reflects the myriad identities that students hold, the primary foci of their input, and thus of this road map, were about how to recruit and retain more educators of color and multilingual educators. In addition, we use the term "educator" to primarily focus on teachers but also include school leaders, classified staff, and other adults who work with students in our public schools. After conducting focus groups and reviewing community feedback, we distilled six key recommendations that emerged from our conversations and offer several ways that the state, LEAs, and schools may implement these recommendations. [This report was produced with Public Advocates Inc.]

Ascend Indiana is a nonprofit intermediary organization that connects Hoosiers to in-demand careers and regional employers to skilled talent, fostering cross-sector partnerships, building capacity, and developing insights that enable system-level change to transform the career trajectory of youth and adults in the community. As part of their efforts, Ascend partnered with EmployIndy, the local workforce board, to offer the Modern Apprenticeship Program (MAP). MAP is a three-year program designed to prepare Central Indiana high school students for the workforce with paid, hands-on experiences that complement their traditional academic coursework. This brief calls on policymakers to elevate innovative approaches across the country, like MAP in Indianapolis, that can be replicated and scaled. It also offers policy recommendations, calling on leaders to adopt solutions that: ensure every high school student can participate in high-quality work-based learning, boost public investment, and make these resources more effective and build strong cross-sector partnerships, which are critical for these efforts to succeed. This work is more important now than ever to ensure the nation's education system creates paths to greater economic opportunity and avoids leaving millions of young people behind, especially those who don't go to college.

We use CUPA-HR data to analyze representation and pay equity for women and racial/ethnic minorities in higher education full-time faculty from 2016-17 to 2022-23, across tenure status, rank, discipline, and total operating expenses of institutions. Results indicate that, despite some growth in the representation of women and faculty of color in tenure-track positions, advancement to higher ranks remains a significant barrier across all faculty disciplines. In addition, women, Black, and Hispanic or Latina/o faculty are better represented in non-tenure-track than in tenure-track positions, indicating that these groups are best represented in the lowest-paid full-time faculty positions. Furthermore, Black and Hispanic or Latina/o non-tenure-track faculty and White women, regardless of tenure status, continue to face pay disparities compared to their White male counterparts. The report offers targeted recommendations to improve faculty equity, including a critical evaluation of promotion processes and underlying bias.

The academic professoriate is a determinant of successful higher education systems. Yet, recently, worsening conditions of employment, deteriorating salaries, and threats to job security have made the academic profession less attractive, especially to young scholars, in several countries. This paper investigates the salaries as well as the recruitment and retention procedures in public higher education institutions from a cross country perspective. The UK, Germany, France, and Italy are adopted as case studies to determine the attractiveness of European higher education systems. The evolution over the last decade creates an extremely variegated picture.

Advocates for Children of New Jersey's latest report, "Still No Room for Babies: Child Care Staffing Crisis Impacts Supply of Infant-Toddler Child Care," reveals a widespread shortage of infant and toddler child care. A statewide survey of child care centers serving infants and toddlers found that licensed centers have the capacity to serve approximately 68,000 infants and toddlers, however are typically serving closer to 55,000 children. This potentially leaves more than 150,000 very young children in New Jersey without the option of center-based care. The primary reason centers reported serving fewer children than they have the capacity to serve is that they cannot find enough staff to work in the infant and toddler room. Read the report to learn of the challenges leading to infant-toddler child care deserts across the state.

Ensuring students' equitable access to talented educators remains a national priority. Congress established the Teacher and School Leader (TSL) Incentive competitive grant program in 2015 to help address this goal, providing financial support to selected school districts to improve their systems for hiring, supporting, and retaining educators, particularly in high-need schools. Grantees can use TSL funds flexibly, for either or both of the two main components of those systems: basic infrastructure for generating and managing data, and a set of strategies that use these data to improve their educator workforce. However, the TSL program requires applicants to already be using two specific data-driven strategies that research has shown to be promising: performance-based compensation and personalized support and feedback to educators. As part of the 2017 competition, the program also incentivized the use of grant funds to address equity and educator diversity. With those initial 3-year grants having now drawn to a close, this report provides the first comprehensive review of the activities 2017 TSL grantee districts prioritized with their TSL funds, and how well these activities aligned with the key aspects of the program. The report is based on interviews conducted near the end of the grant period for the 24 districts that were part of the 2017 TSL cohort and is part of a broader evaluation of TSL required by Congress. [For the Study Highlights, see ED627049.]