The vast majority of public employees--including teachers--are enrolled in defined-benefit pension plans. These plans are usually the product of state legislation that determines eligibility, benefit formulas, employer and employee contributions, and how payments will be calculated when an employee retires or leaves the system. Once an employee…

This article is a high school Spanish teacher's perspective on the current state of foreign language education in Georgia. Particularly, the author considers the need for more connections to be made in foreign language education, including explicit links between students' experiences and the relevance of language study, more integration of the…

After spending three years as a kindergarten teacher and one as a reading specialist, Michelle Waters recently became the education outreach coordinator for the Georgia-based Clean Air Campaign. In that role, she has helped roll out a comprehensive Better Air Schools initiative to 20 Atlanta-area elementary schools. The program includes a…

The Consumer Judging contest conducted by the Georgia Cooperative Extension Service focuses on decision-making skills. Objectives are to help teenagers (1) make knowledgeable, rational decisions about purchases; (2) maximize resources; (3) obtain goods and services reflecting lifestyles, values, and goals; and (4) be responsible consumers. (JOW)

U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that students who have been sexually harassed by teachers may recover money damages against school districts and administrators. Article suggests to avoid lawsuits, including establishing and announcing clear-cut policy, educating teachers to recognize sexual harassment behaviors, requiring student complaints to…

The speaker indicates problems and prospects affecting the teaching profession and suggests ways higher education can contribute to solving educational problems. Specific recommendations include differentiating staff systems in elementary and secondary schools; reducing the number of teacher training institutions and providing those remaining with…

The perspective taken in this paper is that of a person (now an educator) born in the United States in 1947 who did not experience any forms of deprivation, overt discrimination, or doubt about the future while growing up in the Midwest. The paper discusses two books which identified values which are at the core of U.S. society: "The Morality…

Examines sociopolitical conditions that allowed pro-creationist and anti-evolutionist movements to thrive in Georgia and other southern States. Describes efforts by leading citizens to influence legislation toward propagation of the creationist philosophy, especially in education. Stresses the need for scientists and educators to oppose…

Interviews Eliot Wigginton, a ninth-grade English teacher who led his Rabun County, Georgia, students to collect oral history for their magazine, "Foxfire." Now he and his staff members have set up nine regional networks for teachers desiring to test his instructional model in various K-12 settings. (MLH)

Recent litigation in Georgia's courts has concerned the constitutionality of the state's system of funding for education and the issue of equal educational opportunities. The state supreme court has decided that, while the system is a poor one in terms of equalization, it bears a rational relationship to legitimate state purposes and thus does not…

Administration of the Student Achievement Diagnostic Questionnaire for Administrators to 1,278 Georgia teachers verified the instrument's utility for measuring several factors affecting teacher motivation, including teachers' attitudes toward principals, toward the utility of improving performance, and toward the nature of and the possibility of…

The essays contained in this document, which launches the University of Georgia Education Initiative, attempt to address Georgia's need for increased literacy in realistic and constructive terms. Taken together, these essays constitute an agenda for action--a challenge to all those who wish to provide Georgians with the quality education they…

Increasingly, competency tests are being developed and used by state departments of education for teacher certification. Professional educators should participate in the development and revision of the content of these examinations. A description of the development of Georgia's competency tests is given. (CJB)

Preliminary findings of a survey of Georgia school principals indicate a serious lack of confidence in teachers, prophesizing conflict, disharmony, and strife as teachers seek increasing autonomy. We need to alter this adversarial relationship between teachers and administrators and to redefine their decision-making roles. (Author/SJL)

Includes "Similarities and Differences" (Gamon); "Preparing Agriculture Teachers and Extension Agents" (Seevers); "Teaching and Extension" (Graham); "Cooperation between 4-H and FFA" (Hink); "Team Approach to Agricultural and Extension Education in Georgia" (Iverson, Rohs); "Agricultural…