Historically, African American teachers have been the foundation of effective teaching for African American learners and for others in public schools before and after the landmark Brown versus Board decision. The ability of these teachers to do the work necessary to continue this legacy in the post-Brown era appears to be difficult in current…

Saying "teaching matters most" is easy, and seems obvious. Making it the top priority for school leaders and staff is not so easy--in fact, it's messy. If we want to change how students write, compute, and think, then teachers must change how they teach. They must transform the old "assign-and-assess" model into engaging, compassionate, coherent,…

Many districts struggle with multiple--and often incompatible--data systems for tracking payroll, collecting teacher evaluations, recruiting and hiring. Aligning these systems and annually assessing where a district stands is the first step towards developing a smart human capital strategy. This checklist outlines the goals, data and questions a…

Mentoring and induction support influence novice special education teachers' determination to remain in teaching. Administrators who understand the demands placed on novice special education teachers are in a better position to provide relevant induction experiences for them. This short document describes seven types of induction support that…

This paper examines and reports on beginning generalist teacher self-efficacy, which Bandura (1997) suggests plays an important part in student outcomes. In 2008, 201 beginning generalist teachers throughout the state of Queensland, Australia, participated in a study that aimed to provide a snapshot of current perceptions towards support in…

This article is intended to help teacher educators, administrators, and mentor teachers envision how to support beginning STEM teachers as they transition from university-based preservice preparation into their first year of classroom teaching in high-need schools. Based on our experiences, and grounded in the associated research and literature,…

There is little agreement among school leaders on what constitutes quality teaching and how best to support teachers in improving lessons, assessments, and classroom instruction. This book will show how principals and other school leaders can "grow" the expertise of teachers to deliver high quality instruction that serves all students well. It…

This paper discusses the challenge of retaining teachers in hard-to-staff schools by examining how it is addressed in three context specific teacher education programs, which prepare teachers to teach in urban public, urban Catholic, and Jewish Day Schools in U.S.A. The findings of this study suggest that counter to teaching force trends teachers…

Teacher mentoring has its unique challenges that are often associated with the teachers' content specialties. For this reason, the involvement and support of school leaders is essential to teachers' mentoring success. In this article, the authors talk about teacher mentoring and offer recommendations that will help school leaders to realize a…

This enlightening handbook offers current, international perspectives on the conditions in communities, contemporary practices in schooling, relevant research on teaching and learning, and implications for the future of education. It contains diverse conceptual frameworks for analyzing existing issues in education, including but not limited to…

This leadership framework, based on practices employed by some the nation's most successful principals, can be used to diagnose and address school needs. The framework is excerpted from "Breakthrough Principals" © 2016 by Jean Desravines, Jaime Aquino, Benjamin Fenton, and New Leaders, published by Jossey-Bass, a Wiley brand. The…

The successful mentoring of first-, second-, and third-year teachers is imperative for both retention and the continued success of students in the public school setting. Implementation of effective teacher mentor programs is vitally important to a teacher's professional success and can have positive impacts on student achievement and staff morale.…

The experiences that beginning special education teachers encounter moving from the pre-service environment into the first year of classroom teaching put them in a uniquely tenuous position that could lead to leaving the classroom after only a few years of teaching. District- and school-level administrators can influence the retention rates of…

For the National Center to Improve Policy and Practice in Special Education Professional Development, a group of district administrators recently completed an analysis of state policy on induction and mentoring. State policy is important because it helps districts design and deliver induction programs and supplements local resources that are made…

This study of mentoring 1st-year faculty in physical education departments focused on individual reasons for mentoring and organizational factors inhibiting or facilitating mentoring. A phenomenological research design was used to examine the mentoring relationship between 1st-year faculty and physical education department Chairs (N = 5), and a…