Roughly three-quarters of states offer teachers a retirement plan that isn’t making the grade, according to a ranking released Tuesday.

Just 13 states received either a B or a C grade overall in Bellwether Education Partner’s latest look at teacher retirement plans. None received an A.

South Dakota, Tennessee, Washington, Utah and New York scored closest, topping the nonprofit organization’s new ranking. Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Kentucky New Jersey and Illinois rounded out the bottom five states.

Most teachers are enrolled in a defined-benefit pension plan, in which teachers contribute a percentage of their salary annually and then are paid a set amount monthly, based on their years of service and final earnings, after retirement.

But states are increasingly putting teachers into plans designed with a defined-contribution element, where the payout is based on annual contributions and investment returns, much like the 401(k).

The authors compare states with pensions alongside states with these alternative plans, ranking the plans based on 15 variables, including investment returns, annual contribution rates, how well a state’s system is funded, how long teachers have to pay into the system before qualifying for benefits and how much teachers can expect to receive after retiring.

“Everyone has room to grow,” says Andrew Rotherham, cofounder at Bellwether and an author of the report. “The laggard states are really laggards, but even the best states have things they can do to improve.”

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