The most rigorous experimental study of performance-based teacher compensation ever conducted in the United States shows that a nationally watched bonus-pay system had no overall impact on student achievement--results that are certain to set off a firestorm of debate. The study, known as POINT for the Project on Incentives in Teaching, was a…

During the past century the educational reform movements focused on the need for highly qualified teachers based on research surrounding the effects on student achievement related to the quality of the teacher (Busatto, 2004). The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) was created in 1987 in response to the increasing focus…

Teacher absenteeism is expensive, disrupts the continuity of educational activities, and results in students attending classes with less qualified substitute teachers. The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationships among teacher variables, teacher absenteeism, student achievement, and school district policy governing teacher…

The author reports on an experimental study of performance-based teacher compensation conducted in the U.S. which shows that a nationally watched bonus-pay system had no overall impact on student achievement. Nearly 300 middle school mathematics teachers in Nashville, Tennessee, voluntarily took part in the Project on Incentives in Teaching, a…

Forty five percent of the students' receiving Title I funds in urban lower class inner city schools and 20% of the students not receiving Title I funds in American public schools are reading below proficient on standardized tests. The goal of No Child Left Behind Legislation was to make sure that 95% of all students are reading at a proficient…

As a part of the teacher licensure program at the graduate level at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC), the M.Ed. Licensure candidate is required to complete an action research project during a 3-semester-hour course that coincides with the 9-semester-hour student teaching experience. This course, Education 590 Culminating…

The KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) Diamond (Daring Individual Achievers Making Outstanding New Dreams) Academy, housed in Cypress Junior High School in Memphis, Tennessee, opened in the summer of 2002. KIPP goals include enhancement of academic achievement and promotion of positive student leadership through an innovative redesign of…