State policymakers can have an impact on the quality of the teaching force if they look seriously at three issues. The first issue is setting and enforcing teaching standards: setting standards for teacher education, teacher licensing, and ongoing evaluation and professional development; working toward National Council for the Accreditation of…

Argues that teaching is a form of social activism and that teacher educators should encourage preservice teachers to think deeply and critically about teaching and consider infusing aspects of a multicultural, social reconstructionist approach within their own teaching. (SM)

If schools are to value minority students and support their academic success and cultural integrity, reformers must examine the knowledge of successful culturally relevant teachers of students of color. The leadership and example of such teachers is generally missing in current educational reform. The paper presents two restructuring schools'…

Reviews Maslow's hierarchy of needs and characterization of the self-actualizing personality, suggesting that since few people meet his self-actualization criteria, an educational system designed to produce such personalities may fail, with teachers attending only to the hierarchy's lower stages (self-esteem and self-actualization) which dilutes…

The revised standards used by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) embody several departures from past standards. One difference is that they oblige units to focus on the knowledge bases pertinent to professional preparation for education. The concept of knowledge bases is explored, and implications for the construct…

A model for developing articulation between college and high school second language programs is presented. The four-step process involves discussion, planning, implementation, and expansion of the network. After the discussion, the following goals for a network were established: (1) to provide additional educational experiences for foreign…

This "Fastback" focuses on avoiding boredom in schools. Following an introduction that explains the importance of teachers breathing life into subject matter, the booklet includes five sections. Section one, "The Nature of Boredom," defines boredom and explains that both teachers and students are responsible for beating…

Examines the urgent need to establish a conceptualization of teaching as professional practice that is characterized by ethical values, autonomous pragmatism, and pursuit of expertise. Suggests that conceptual, psychological, and epistemological weaknesses prevent England's current national vocational qualifications from accounting for these…

Suggests that it is time to increase the professional status of teaching by demonstrating to society that the differences between teaching and more traditional professions are not about gender. There must be positive social construction that allows women access to their rightful place among all levels of organizational hierarchy. (SM)

Using music, story, and prayer, this conference presentation describes the African American spiritual experience with curriculum, explaining what African American spirituality is, who African Americans are, why spirituality is critical to African Americans, and where this spirituality is found, then linking it to education. (SM)

The purpose of this article is twofold. The first is to introduce the theme: "Responding to the educational needs of the young to bring about globalization with a human face," which formed part of the discussions at the 47th session of the International Conference on Education, Geneva, Switzerland, 8-11 September 2004. The second is to provide a…

In professional development schools (PDSs), personnel from two different cultures come together to form a new, hybrid culture. Sharing the same goals and parity among the participating professionals produce authentic collaboration and are essential aspects of this culture. When parity and sharing are absent, collaboration between schools and…

This paper addresses, from an ecological perspective, the idea that a system of education includes much more than schools, encompassing such elements as families, day-care centers, peer groups, television broadcasters, and workplaces. At the core of such an educational system are educative communities, of which schools are an important part. If…

This report addresses questions related to increasing the numbers of Latino teachers in U.S. classrooms and improving the preparation of those teachers and all teachers of Latino children. The report presents demographic data on Latinos concerning: percentage of total population, population projections, states of residence, median age, educational…

Florida's 1983 Legislature directed the Postsecondary Education Planning Commission to conduct a study of colleges of education in Florida. The Commission examined principally those areas relatively untouched by recent or impending changes. Legislation, board of education rules, department of education initiatives and independent actions by…