In many school districts, the policies that regulate teaching personnel are governed by collective bargaining agreements (CBAs). While there is significant policy attention that has affected the scope of these agreements, there is relatively little research on how CBAs vary over time, or whether they change in response to states' legislative…

A teacher shortage continues to plague the SBAE profession. While this shortage has been quantified and explored from the perspective of individual teachers, little research has taken a systemic approach to the problem of the SBAE teacher shortage. We posit the teacher shortage problem as inextricably linked to a convoluted job description and…

This article illustrates the efforts of educators in North Carolina to advocate for the social studies in an age of high-stakes assessment and tight budgets. Although this story begins with one state, the marginalization of social studies in elementary schools is a nationwide problem. The federal No Child Left Behind law (NCLB) is due for…

In Walla Walla (Washington), an award-winning teacher mentoring program has boosted the new-teacher retention rate to 93 percent. With state funding, the program assigns each new teacher a "peer coach" and a "peer mentor," then provides training and support for all concerned. The program has become a good recruitment and…

The author had been teaching English at Pierce Community College in Tacoma, Washington, since 1973 when, in the early 1980s, their department was told that current laws demanded their hiring an American Indian to fill a full-time position that had opened. The search committee, she felt, made an excellent decision when they selected Dr. James…

A study of stress in 120 rural teachers in Whatcom County, Washington, revealed that time management issues were listed most frequently as the highest stress factor, followed by lack of administrative support, poor student motivation, and discipline. Salary levels and violence toward teachers were insignificant. Includes teachers' predictions of…