This research bulletin contains parts of two studies dealing with the persistent problem of developing effective teachers and stimulating effective teaching. The study reported in "Attitudes toward Merit Pay for Instructional Personnel" (John Weigman) was conducted to survey, analyze, and compare the attitudes of Florida public school…

This study determined whether nontraditional assessment factors (principal's gender, choice of subject matter for demonstrating competence, or years of teacher experience) would affect elementary teachers' scores when completing the Leon County (Florida) Teacher Assessment Process. Principal's gender and subject selected were significant…

Through teacher and colleague interviews, presents experiences of first-year teacher in a poor, urban elementary school and his attempts to enact a social reconstructionist curriculum. Describes student resistance to the teacher's practices and his ability to help students adjust to a new way of learning. (LBT)

Pay for performance (PFP) is once again gaining popularity within education. This study examines teacher attitudes toward PFP policies, and how these views vary by teacher experience, subject area specialization, grade level(s) taught, educational background, personality characteristics, risk and time preferences, and feelings of efficacy. Data…

We study the effects of various types of education and training on the ability of teachers to promote student achievement. Previous studies on the subject have been hampered by inadequate measures of teacher training and difficulties addressing the non-random selection of teachers to students and of teachers to training. We address these issues by…

This report is a survey of attitudes on desegregation conducted by the Southeastern Regional Office for Civil Rights, Department of Health, Education and Welfare in the Spring of 1969. It was undertaken to help civil rights staff better understand the integration process. The staff interviewed 1230 persons involved in school desegregation in 13…

In this article, the author discusses a partnership between Baylor University and the Waco public schools that embeds every teacher-candidate--from the freshman year on--into the K-12 system. To test whether professional-development schools, modeled after teaching hospitals, can be scaled up so that all of a college's teaching candidates--not just…

This study was conducted in order to determine how beginning teachers evaluated preservice teacher education and performance. A survey was conducted of University of North Florida graduates who had been hired by school systems within the state of Florida. The graduates were asked to rate themselves on 27 generic teaching competencies and to write…

In this article, the authors consider three sources of support for new teachers--hiring practices, relationships with colleagues, and curriculum--all found in earlier research to influence new teachers' satisfaction with their work, their sense of success with students, and their eventual retention in their job. They find that a "support…

Studies indicate that as many as 20 percent of teachers nationwide leave the profession after three years and close to 30 percent leave after five years. This research capsule examines the characteristics of teachers who move or leave and the types of schools they are most likely to leave. Findings on the impact of financial compensation on…

This study addresses attrition in the teaching profession, a major problem in Florida's schools. The study's target population was a random sample of 10% of the teachers from a Florida metropolitan school district employing 5,500 teachers. Data were gathered through a mailed questionnaire--the Survey of Teacher Characteristics and Activities. The…

SUCCEED (Southeastern University and College Coalition for Engineering Education) is an eight-campus coalition of engineering schools formed in 1992 under the sponsorship of the National Science Foundation. In 1997, a faculty survey of instructional practices and attitudes regarding the climate for teaching on the Coalition campuses was designed…