Charter schools see as many as one in four teachers leave annually, and recent evidence attributes much of this turnover to provisions affected by collective bargaining processes and state laws such as salary, benefits, job security, and working hours. There have been many recent efforts to improve teacher voice in charter schools (Kahlenberg…

Strong and stable school leadership is critical for success in schools across the nation. The duties of the principal are many and varied. Principals, for example, can oversee instruction, purchase curricular materials and supplies, and provide professional learning and supports for teachers. Carrying out these duties effectively makes a…

Reflecting the growing momentum in support of quality rating and improvement systems (QRISs) as a key strategy to improve early care and education quality, significant amounts of public dollars have been devoted to their development and implementation. In this brief, the authors report on their investigation of both quality rating and improvement…

Sponsored by the Pennsylvania Association for the Education of Young Children, this study involved a statewide survey to assess the salary levels, benefits, working conditions, and turnover rates for teaching and administrative staff of child care centers and Head Start programs in Pennsylvania in 1992. A random sample of 2,500 licensed, full-day…

This Pennsylvania project aimed to assess whether or not there are differences in educational opportunities for students and teachers in districts of varying size and wealth. After preliminary interviews with 182 teachers in 17 districts, a survey was distributed to 4,470 teachers--30 teachers in each of the 149 selected school districts. A total…