How effective is reflective teaching in increasing the engagement and achievement of pre-service teachers when utilized by a first-year college instructor? This article documents a practitioner inquiry project in which I reflected both on my own observations and student feedback regarding what teaching methods were most beneficial in an…

This article is part of a larger exploratory study that followed preservice early childhood teachers through their program and into their first year of practice, giving voice to their understandings of quality teaching and learning, and insight into the ways their preservice program prepared them for the challenges of teaching in diverse settings.…

Recruit, train, reward, retain. These actions sound like the core competencies of a human resources manager or the buzzwords for economic development initiatives aiming to attract Fortune 500 companies. The same principles apply to finding, preparing and retaining effective educators. All 16 Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) states have…

This report examines the placement of Teach for America (TFA) teachers and examines their impact on the learning gains of their students during 2012-13. TFA is an organization that recruits and trains recent college graduates/professionals to teach for two years in selected communities. Sets of eligible TFA teachers were identified in 2012-13…

This report examines the placement of Teacher for America (TFA) teachers and examines their impact on the learning gains of their students during 2011-12. TFA is an organization that recruits and trains recent college graduates/professionals to teach for two years in selected communities. Sets of eligible TFA teachers were identified in 2011-12,…

This casual-comparative study was conducted to determine the professional development needs of teaching faculty with fewer than 6 years of university teaching experience (n = 67). Faculty were compared on the level of teaching assistantship responsibility during their graduate degree program. The purpose of this article is to provide faculty…

This paper traces the history and impact of communities of practice (CoPs) in supporting early-career academics, although the primary focus here in the United States is on the faculty learning community (FLC) model, a special type of CoP in higher education. The initial development of this model, beginning in 1979, takes place over two decades at…

A phenomenological case study by Counsell (2007) explored and investigated the phenomenon of what happened as Florida's A+ Plan intersected with the life histories of one beginning African American female third grade teacher and one veteran White female third grade teacher at demographically different school communities in one Florida school…

Many teachers are already keen observers and skilled in supporting and collaborating with their colleagues. Leveraging this rich talent among staff can be an efficient way to address capacity challenges and enrich teachers' evaluations with more targeted feedback. Teachers, however, require training to become systematic, reliable observers who can…

Improving teacher preparation is critical to long-term improvement in teacher quality. More than 200,000 new teachers enter classrooms each year. Increasing student enrollment, the retirement of baby boom generation teachers, and high attrition in their first five years (between 40 and 50 percent of new teachers leave the profession) have…

As numerous studies from 1906 on have confirmed, children lose ground in learning if they lack opportunities for building skills over the summer. Nonetheless, summer learning loss comes up but rarely in the national discussion of education reform. By the end of summer, students perform on average one month behind where they left off in the spring.…

It is important to focus attention on the pre-entry competencies of new organization members and to identify the competencies needed by Extension agents to determine adequate education curricula and training, and to improve retention. Current professional development models disregard the competencies needed by agents entering Extension. This…

This article explores whether new teachers are assigned to tough classrooms and whether such classroom assignment is associated with higher teacher mobility. It utilizes the statewide administrative data set on public school teachers in Florida during the period 1997-2003 in conjunction with the 1999-2000 Schools and Staffing Survey and its…

Little research exists to help us understand why some beginning special education teachers of reading engage in more effective classroom practices than others. Factors that may influence these differences include personal attributes, preparation, and school environment. This mixed-methods study examined beginning special education teachers (N =…

At the request of the Urban League of Miami, the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) analyzed the distribution of teachers in Miami-Dade County Public Schools. In this paper, the authors examine teacher-level data to determine whether indicators correlated with teacher quality vary across the district based on socioeconomic differences, and…