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On average, secondary school students in the United States are absent from school three weeks per year. For this study, we are able to link middle and high school teachers to the class-attendance of students in their classrooms and create measures of teachers' contributions to student class-attendance. We find systematic variation in teacher effectiveness at reducing unexcused class absences. These differences across teachers are as stable as those for student achievement, but teacher effectiveness on attendance only weakly correlates with their effects on achievement. A high value-added to attendance teacher has a stronger impact on students' likelihood of finishing high school than does a high value-added to achievement teacher. Moreover, high value-added to attendance teachers can motivate students to pursue higher academic goals. These positive effects are particularly salient for low-achieving and low-attendance students. [End Page 343] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Virtually all state and local government employers in the United States offer workers some sort of retirement benefits today but there is significant variation in the characteristics of those plans. There is also a great deal of public angst about the level and timing of commitments made in these plans. The literature on retirement plans suggests that they are important elements of compensation that plan sponsors use in meeting their human resource goals. But public retirement plans are created and operated in a public policy environment and forces other than local labor market considerations may be brought to bear in the organization and operation of these plans. This paper explores some of the possible explanations for the variation in state retirement plans. Public disclosure data is used to develop a model that explains relative generosity of benefits based on the characteristics of participants and the marketplaces in which the plans are offered. The final section of the paper places the issues explored in a forward looking context. The public disclosure environment recently put in place for public retirement plans is likely to have a more profound effect on state pension operations than any other development in recent history. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Most public school districts in the United States use a salary schedule to determine compensation for teachers within the district. However, some school districts have implemented incentive pay schemes that allow flexibility at the school or even individual teacher level. These compensation schemes in some ways may more closely approximate a competitive labor market. This study examines the factors that influence a district''s decision to offer incentive pay using districts from the 1999 to 2000 Schools and Staffing Survey. The results suggest that school districts that face barriers to recruitment or retention and districts that face competition from non-sectarian private schools are more likely to offer incentive pay. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The share of female teachers in the U.S. with an MA more than doubled between 1970 and 2000. This increase is puzzling, as it is much larger than that of other college-educated women, and it occurred over a period of declining teacher aptitude. I estimate the contribution of changes in teacher demographic characteristics, increases in the returns to an MA, and changes in teacher certification requirements to increases in teacher MA attainment rates. I find that the majority of the rise in attainment not attributable to secular trends and increases in the average age of teachers can be explained by increases in the returns to an MA among teachers. The increase in MA returns among teachers presents a second puzzle, as there is little evidence that master''s degrees increase teacher productivity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Beyond some contracted minimum, salaried workers’ hours are largely chosen at the worker''s discretion and should respond to the strength of contract incentives. Accordingly, we consider the response of teacher hours to accountability and school choice laws introduced in US public schools over the past two decades. Total weekly hours of full-time teachers have risen steadily since 1983 by about an hour, and after-school instructional hours have increased 34 percent since 1987. Average hours and the rate of increase also vary widely across states. However, after accounting for a common time trend in hours, we find no association between the introduction of accountability legislation and the change in teacher hours. Education reforms are, however, associated with an increase in student test scores, presumably due to other types of changes in school and teacher behavior. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Unlike previous studies, this paper examines the determinants of Black, Hispanic, Asian and Native American employment in police and fire departments separately as well as in the aggregate. In addition, the effects of variables ignored in earlier studies are analyzed. These variables include the existence of an affirmative action policy, use of numeric goals, the number of EEO complaints and failure rate for recruits in police and fire academies. The empirical results indicate that the percentage of the population which is minority has the most consistent effect on minority employment. It is also found that effects vary by minority group. For example, while an affirmative action policy by itself benefits Hispanic and Asian firefighters, it has no effect on Black and Native American employment. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]