Background: Research indicates expert and novice teachers communicate differently during instruction. However, these differences have yet to be investigated in relation to student learning. Receiver selectivity theory offers an interpretive framework for understanding how expert-novice communication differences might function to discriminate…

This review of teaching standards in six states updates a 2009 review (White, Makkonen, and Stewart 2009) by incorporating California's recently adopted teaching standards alongside those from Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio, and Texas. The previous review was developed at the request of key education agencies in California to inform the…

Teacher shortages have been steadily increasing across the nation, particularly in the field of special education. According to analyses conducted by the Center on Personnel Studies in Special Education (COPSSE), reasons for this include the fact that veteran special education teachers are retiring at a faster rate than new teachers are being…

Traditional music education students are often required to choose a specific curricular emphasis or track of study within their degree program. These specializations, based upon the student's major instrument, include choral, general, and instrumental music. Although there is general training and coursework beyond a student's area of specialty in…

Building a stronger teacher workforce requires the thoughtful orchestration of multiple processes working together in a human capital system. This white paper presents a framework that can be used to take stock of current efforts to enhance the teacher workforce in school districts or educational organizations, as well as their underlying theories…

For five years running, the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) has tracked states' teacher policies, preparing a detailed and thorough compendium of teacher policy in the United States on topics related to teacher preparation, licensure, evaluation, career advancement, tenure, compensation, pensions and dismissal. The 2011 State Teacher…

This document provides an overview of a faculty training and orientation program used for adjunct faculty at the H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship at Nova Southeastern University. The model includes components for assessing, hiring, orienting, and providing initial training for a diverse cadre of part time faculty in many…

It is widely believed that starting public school teacher salaries are too low, and student loan burdens are too high. If true, everyone could be facing a situation in which recent college graduates cannot afford to go into teaching because they will be unable to repay their college debts. Public policies are already being formulated on the basis…

High teacher turnover was a problem at the preschool for students with autism where this study took place. The primary purpose of this project was to create and implement a mentor program that would effectively decrease turnover rates of newly hired teachers. The secondary purpose was to determine whether newly hired teachers changed their…

This report presents the Florida edition of the National Council on Teacher Quality's 2008 "State Teacher Policy Yearbook." The 2008 "Yearbook" focuses on how state policies impact the retention of effective new teachers. This policy evaluation is broken down into three areas that encompass 15 goals. Broadly, these goals…

Supervision and coaching strategies that provide immediate feedback can help improve instruction for novice teachers. In this study, feedback was provided to teachers using "bug-in-ear" technology to coach them to deliver effective instructional interactions: "learn units." Three novice teachers in K-8 classrooms with students…

We use value-added models to calculate measures of effectiveness for new elementary school teachers in Florida between 2001-02 and 2005-06, then compare the attrition and mobility patterns of more and less effective teachers overall and across various types of schools. While we do not find evidence that schools are disproportionately losing their…

This study explored beginning special education teacher quality and the role that knowledge and skill for teaching reading plays in defining quality. The authors examined the relationship between beginning teachers' knowledge for teaching reading and their classroom practices during reading instruction and, further, relationships between classroom…

During the past decade, researchers in special education have begun to investigate the unique and complex challenges encountered by novice special educators. These investigations have documented numerous factors in special education settings that contribute to the stresses of the first year of teaching for them, including: role ambiguity, students…

To determine teacher working knowledge of transition best practices, the Transition Programs and Services (T-PAS) survey was administered to 2,000 middle and high school teachers and 70 school district transition contacts. Three questions were asked: (a) What barriers exist that hinder the transition process? (b) What effective practices…