Updated Resource Highlights Selected Research on Connections Between Non-Tenure Track Faculty Working Conditions and Student Learning in Higher Education

Created as part of the Delphi Project on the Changing Faculty and Student Success, the annotated bibliography is designed to highlight correlations between the working conditions of non-tenure-track faculty and the outcomes and experiences of their students.

Originally published in 2013, the initial bibliography highlighted five correlated findings on student outcomes that have been tied to negative working conditions for non-tenure-track faculty (NTTF). A newly revised version expands that list to eight. Additions include a decrease in academic rigor, grade inflation, and less engagement in impactful instructional practices. These poor working conditions for NTTF impact their ability to teach and engage students, thus influencing student learning experiences. 

These join the initially identified five negatively correlated findings such as diminished graduation and retention rates, reduced faculty-student interaction and accessibility, and a decreased rate of student transfers from two- to four- year institutions. In addition, the updated document also includes a revised and expanded list of citations, selected publications, and reports that further detail non-tenure-track faculty working conditions.

“Student learning is one of the central missions of higher education. Existing research on the connections between non-tenure-track faculty working conditions and student learning shows that working conditions shape the ways that faculty do their work, which in turn affects student experiences,” notes Pullias Center Director Adrianna Kezar in the annotated bibliography updated in May 2020. “Understanding this relationship is an important step toward improving conditions for non-tenure-track faculty, so updating this document with the latest relevant information was a priority for the Pullias Center.”

The Delphi Project, an initiative of the Pullias Center for Higher Education at the University of Southern California, is dedicated to enhancing awareness about the changing faculty trends using research and data to better support faculty off the tenure track and to help create new faculty models to support higher education institutions in the future.