This report examines the issue of teacher turnover in small schools and offers suggestions for how small schools can sustain changes in structure, instruction, and leadership, yet make room for new voices and ideas. Data was drawn from a three-year study of high school conversions in Washington State. The report also includes self-study questions…

This article summarizes the results of a 2-part study using both state databases and teacher surveys to examine teacher retention and mobility in Washington's teacher workforce. The first part of the research examined individual teacher records during a 5-year period. Statewide analyses were conducted, and 20 districts were selected for in-depth…

The Beginning Teacher Assistance Program (BTAP) was piloted in the state of Washington during the 1985-86 school year. Each of 89 beginning teachers was assigned a mentor teacher to provide continuing and sustained support during the school year. A survey of beginning teachers, mentors, and school principals at the end of the school year yielded…

Strategies to address the problem of work and family balance have begun emerging in recent years. Many American college and universities have begun to adopt this "family-friendly policies," such as tenure-clock extensions. Each of the policies to enable work and family balance, however, is situated within the broader academic culture.…

In this article, the author explores her teaching experiences in order to better understand the nature of the professional knowledge needed to make use of conflict and to manage a particular teaching dilemma. The author's intention is to show that such a personal inquiry can reveal ways in which her story is a telling case that may enable others…

In 1998, the Board of Directors for the Washington State Institute for Public Policy directed staff to study teacher quality. The Institute examined three teacher preparation and development programs covering the early stages of teachers' careers: pre-service teacher preparation, beginning teacher assistance, and professional certification.…

The Beginning Teacher Assistance Program (BTAP) was established by the Washington Legislature in 1985. The primary intent of the program is to provide assistance to first-year teachers who often need support and guidance from more experienced colleagues. This report to the legislature describes the results for school year 1986-87. In order to…

Shows that teachers ending their first employment assignments are more likely to transfer to another teaching position when state teacher salaries and noninstructional staff salaries are increased or when their districts have high central-office spending. The research was based on a new longitudinal data set providing career history information…

In an effort to scrutinize the evaluative criteria used by public schools throughout the State of Washington and how these criteria resulted in the placement of certificated employees on probation, a questionnaire was sent to superintendents of 179 school districts. Fifty-one percent responded. The results of the questionnaire provide an…

This Washington edition of the National Council on Teacher Quality's (NCTQ's) 2009 "State Teacher Policy Yearbook" is the third annual look at state policies impacting the teaching profession. It is hoped that this report will help focus attention on areas where state policymakers can make changes that will have a positive impact on…

The 1992 Washington State Legislature gave the State Board of Education (SBE), in conjunction with the Governor's Council on Education Reform and Funding (GCERF), responsibility for completing a review of certification policies to develop an outcome-based certification system for teachers. To accomplish this task, the SBE/GCERF Professional…

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…

The strategies used by practicing adult basic education (ABE) teachers to retain students with poor self-esteem were examined through an Internet survey that was sent to 115 ABE instructors at community colleges in Washington. The survey, which contained questions about the prevalence of poor self-esteem among ABE dropouts, specific behaviors…