This study was conducted in response to several recent incidents in which teachers and student teachers were reprimanded for content they placed on the Internet. This study examined the Facebook postings of preservice elementary teachers to determine the extent to which these postings are congruent with expected dispositions. Profiles were…

Analyzes Georgia high-stakes testing case involving administrative law judge's recommendation (subsequently approved) that fifth-grade science teacher's teaching certificate be suspended for giving his students pretest copies of the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills. Suggests No Child Left Behind Act will spawn similar litigation in the future. (PKP)

Discusses the lack of discipline which allows large numbers of students to stay in the hallways rather than attend classes at Chicago's all Black Westside High School. Suggests that the administration does not enforce teacher discipline and that teachers, thus, do not fulfill their own duty to control students. (GC)

Administrators cannot avoid disciplining and dismissing teachers who lack the skill to teach or the judgment to conduct themselves professionally. Central office administrators at a Salt Lake City school district developed "corrective discipline" procedures to help principals incorporate just cause, due process, and progressive…

Explores 60 children's perceptions of their teachers and reveals those areas in which students approved and disapproved of various teaching methods. Issues such as repetition of subject matter, and the balance between individual and group work were also explored. (Author/BSR)

The Connick vs. Myers Supreme Court decision regarding public employees' right to express themselves has been applied to public schools in two recent federal court cases. The rulings suggest school boards may discipline school employees for disputes over internal office matters but must tolerate their dissent over public matters. (DCS)

Teachers who desire the academic freedom to discuss all sides of an issue are often branded as disloyal, communistic, or evil. But it is those who propose thought control and oppose total access to knowledge, not teachers advocating their students' right to know, who are America's actual subversives. (Author/SJL)

Describes turmoil surrounding the actions of a professor at Indiana University at South Bend. Discusses charges of sexual harassment and intimidation leveled against the professor and the administration's dilemma concerning sanctioning him. (EV)

In a stunning 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has held that teachers and coaches who suffer reprisals for raising complaints regarding illegal sex discrimination against their students can sue their school districts for damages. This ruling is unprecedented with respect to Title IX enforcement and will likely alter how school officials handle…

Dismissing a teacher for insubordination is usually acceptable to the courts when the teacher willfully defies reasonable and specific regulations and orders despite repeated and clear directives that such behavior must cease. (PGD)

A four-phase process for dismissing unsatisfactory teachers is described: (1) early diagnosis of unsatisfactory performance; (2) initiating a 12- to 14-week plan for improvement of performance; (3) notification of corrective action (list deficiencies, provide assistance, and set a deadline); and (4) implementing termination hearings when all else…

Discusses the early 19th century educational history of Irish charter schools from the students' perspective. Suggests that further student input be included in research for consensus sake. Notes differences in teaching and discipline applied for male and female students. Concludes student views stimulated a more carefully supervised,…

According to Joe A. Stone of the University of Oregon, average students do better in classrooms with unionized teachers, but less able and more able students do not. While this particular assumption lacks empirical clarity, many administrators and school board members feel that it would be much easier to reform public education if teacher unions…

An elementary school teacher from Worcester, Massachusetts, was reprimanded and received a two-day suspension and a series of involuntary transfers after being reluctant to turn a case study (done for a college class) of a disturbed student in to her principal. Rights of privacy of public employees are discussed and Supreme Court decision in…

The peer review system for evaluating schools (the "Toledo Plan") is gaining favor among teachers in other school systems. Schools are generally reluctant to dismiss incompetent teachers because of documentation complexities, but incompetent teachers should nevertheless be weeded out. (TE)