The New York edition of the National Council on Teacher Quality's (NCTQ's) 2009 "State Teacher Policy Yearbook" is the third annual look at state policies impacting the teaching profession. It is hoped that this report will help focus attention on areas where state policymakers can make changes that will have a positive impact on teacher…

The Georgia Teacher Certification Tests were developed and validated to be job-related and to reflect the minimum content knowledge that is necessary to teach in each certification area in Georgia classrooms. Three assessment instruments are used in evaluating the performance of preservice students and beginning teachers. The Teacher Performance…

In fall 2000, all 3,506 superintendents in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin received a survey that asked them to report on the strategies they had implemented to attract and retain teachers and on how effective those strategies had been. The survey was designed to collect basic information about a variety of…

This document presents a draft of model standards for licensing teachers, both general and special education, of students with disabilities and is intended to elicit discussion and feedback from states, professional organizations, and teacher education programs. The standards are based on 10 core principles for beginning teacher licensing and…

In order to measure the preservice and inservice preparation of vocational education teachers, a mail survey was conducted of beginning vocational teachers' perceptions of their competencies and preparation for teaching--especially their preparation for teaching basic skills and special student populations. The survey population included 740…

Proposals for reform in teacher education from major organizations are reviewed, summarized, and compared in this document. Concise analyses are presented of: (1) The Need for Quality (Southern Regional Education Board, 1981); (2) "Educating a Profession: Profile of a Beginning Teacher" (American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education…

This report charts a vision for preparing California teachers for the 21st century. The report is an adaptation of the national framework found in the Association of Teacher Educators' report, "Restructuring the Education of Teachers." Recognizing that learning to be an effective teacher is a developmental process, the report is…

In 1979, Act 187, known now as the Educator Improvement Act, was mandated by the legislature of the State of South Carolina. One tenet of Act 187 was the establishment of an Educator Improvement Task Force to develop an instrument which could effectively measure minimal teaching competencies. To help in the content and design of the instrument,…

Eight priority recommendations are outlined for attracting and preparing teachers, developing the new teachers, improving the teaching climate, and rewarding effective teaching. Consideration is given to issues related to effective teaching within the framework of seven areas: (l) early student interest; (2) entry into teacher education; (3)…

Intended to provide background information for task force use, this set of working papers concludes with recommendations for revising the University of Oregon College of Education teacher preparation programs. Section I summarizes the concerns of Oregon educators, reports recommendations made by an ad hoc state committee and the chancellor, and…

This report describes the Scarsdale, New York, Public Schools' mentor program for beginning teachers from the perspective of its second year (1986-87). In response to the challenge to provide support for new teachers and to vitalize an experienced staff, a collaborative program was developed among the Scarsdale Teachers Association, district…

This policy brief examines programs from California and elsewhere in the United States for attracting and retaining quality preschool and child-care staff and places these programs within the broader context of K-12 reforms. While this brief is specifically aimed at early-childhood-education planners and policymakers, it contains information for…

A process policy model that contains a broad range of categories and matrices that can be used to generate questions is used to analyze the development and application of selected segments of the South Carolina Educator Improvement Act. This act is a comprehensive legislative endeavor to upgrade public education in South Carolina. This paper…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) Alliance Releases Teacher Paper: Tapping the Potential: Retaining and Developing High-Quality New Teachers; (2) A…

A study was done of novice teachers in California's public education system to examine how well they function in the language diverse metropolitan classrooms. Fall and Spring surveys were administered to 1,368 new teachers, and Spring surveys were administered to the directors of induction projects in which the new teachers participated. Findings…