Focused on academic departments in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields in the United States, we attempt to map department chairs' awareness of family friendly policies and investigate possible determinants of their knowledge levels. Based on a sample of STEM department chairs in American research universities, we find…

An increasing number of states are requiring teacher performance, as measured by evaluations, be considered when districts are conducting layoffs or reductions in force, according to a 50-state policy review by the Education Commission of the States (ECS). ECS reviewed reduction-in-force policies in 2012 and recently created an online database,…

Higher education managers are under increasing pressure from governments to reduce costs by adopting more flexible staffing practices and tensions can arise as institutions seek to sustain motivation and morale across a diversifying workforce. This paper considers how institutional management and governance practices facilitate innovative…

This paper examines job turnover among US university presidents from 2001-2006. Using data from the American Council of Education's Survey of American College Presidents, this analysis finds that public (state supported) university presidents' odds of leaving office over a five-year period are approximately 50 per cent higher than are their…

Experience with performance pay projects across the United States has demonstrated that, if performance pay programs are to be successful, teachers must be involved in their design. In addition, the district and the union must agree on the purpose of the program, it needs needs to be based on consensually agreed, credible measures that determine…

On February 1, 2012, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels signed a "right to work" (RTW) provision in the state's labor laws, making Indiana the 23rd RTW state in the nation. In addition to becoming the 23rd RTW state in the nation, Indiana is the first in more than a decade to pass a law undermining the ability of unions to organize and…

The Employ American Workers Act was added to the stimulus bill in February by U.S. Senators Charles E. Grassley, an Iowa Republican, and Bernard Sanders, an Independent from Vermont. It prohibits financial institutions that receive federal bailout money from hiring foreign workers if they have recently laid off American workers in similar jobs or…

The struggle to balance work responsibilities with family obligations may be most difficult for working parents of the youngest children, those five and under. Any policy changes designed to ease the difficulties for these families are likely to be controversial, requiring a careful effort to weigh both the costs and benefits of possible…

Effective teachers are demonstrably the most important resource schools have for improving the academic success of their students. Yet for many school leaders, recruiting and retaining talented and effective classroom teachers remains an uphill battle. Whether teacher salaries are sufficient to attract the best graduates into teaching remains an…

Most analyses of teacher quality end without any assessment of the economic value of altered teacher quality. This paper combines information about teacher effectiveness with the economic impact of higher achievement. It begins with an overview of what is known about the relationship between teacher quality and student achievement, which provides…

Organizational rules explain organizational stability and change. Using national surveys and fieldwork, we examine changes in tenure and promotion rules at comprehensive colleges and universities from 1969 to 2002. We find that increased rule founding and change arise from the increasingly rationalized environment, such as the academic…

The inequitable distribution of well-qualified teachers to students in the United States is a longstanding issue. Despite federal mandates under the No Child Left Behind Act and the use of a range of incentives to attract teachers to high-need schools, the problem remains acute in many states. This study examines how and why teacher quality is…

The demand that today's schools shall produce better educational outcomes of their pupils is stronger than ever before, especially in front of the background of our globalized, competitive world. Past and current research has supported the hypothesis that the teacher is the most important ingredient in the educational process. As the Detroit…

This report describes a policy analysis project examining principal evaluation instruments, policies and processes in the fifty United States, the state of Missouri, and 15 Kansas City, Missouri area school districts. Since current research demonstrates that the principal plays a critical role in the success or failure of improvement initiatives,…

We utilize the 2000 Equal Employment Opportunity file of the U.S. Census and various secondary resources to determine if party control, union density and states' anti-discrimination and family leave policy legacies affect levels of occupational sex segregation across large counties. Our findings offer a puzzle to political sociologists because two…