With regard to enhancing teacher candidates' global awareness, teacher education currently faces two challenges: indifference and inaction. The author based this claim primarily on observation and personal experience. In a course on teaching literacy in the content areas, the author began with an overview of the state of literacy, not just in the…

In this article, the author shares some of the lessons about leadership he learned when he became chancellor of the University of Georgia in 2006. He realized that the route to leadership in the private sector differs significantly from the route in higher education. The path to leadership in the academe is not only poorly marked, but it does not…

Since 1975, Microsoft has been a worldwide leader in software, services, and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential. Loren Mikola, the Disability Inclusion Program Manager at Microsoft, ensures that this technology also reaches and includes the special needs population and, through the hiring of individuals with…

The purpose of this essay is to examine and respond to Tom Glass's (2000) assertions about the dearth of women in the superintendency using the lenses of new data (from two large national studies) and analysis--an analysis that primarily focuses on women superintendents' and central office administrators' formal, experiential, and personal…

In the June "Kappan," Marc Tucker summarized the "Tough Choices" report, the sequel to a report issued in 1990 by a predecessor group, which attributed the nation's low productivity growth in the 1970s and 1980s to inadequate American schools. The authors critiqued it and charged Tucker with trying to stampede policy makers into adopting reckless…

Globalization changes everything. When young people affect and are affected by issues, changes, and events across the world, they need to be given the tools to participate in global discourse and decision making. With their incredible consumer power, today's preK-12 students are already influencing global economic, technological, and environmental…

At its heart are the National Education Association's "Status of the American Public School Teacher" surveys, which are conducted every five years and offer unprecedented insights into the professional lives and experiences of teachers nationwide. This volume analyzes and summarizes the survey's findings, while also offering commentaries…

In every assistant professor there seems to lurk a Karate Kid seeking a Mr. Miyagi who will train his acolyte to be a skilled warrior in the art of research, teaching, and service and impart pithy life lessons along the way. Such singular folks exist. But it's far more likely that one will find several mentors who, while not well-versed in all…

The issue of teacher quality has emerged with special force recently; between 2000 and 2005, at least 15 reports addressing teacher quality from a public policy perspective have been produced (Cochran-Smith & Fries, 2005). The National Research Council has been charged by the U.S. Congress to do a national study of teacher preparation programs to…

In "Psychology in its place" (2008), John Radford considers "what is or should be the "place" of Psychology in education, more particularly Higher Education". In this article, the author looks at the possible inclusion of coaching psychology within undergraduate psychology programmes. Coaching psychology as an applied…

Among countless petitioners to the incoming president, higher-education leaders have sent Barack Obama position statements and requests for action that extol the strengths and accomplishments of this nation's higher-education enterprise but also warn of its increasingly dire financial situation. They have asked that a share of an impending…

These are strange times for teacher education in a democratic society because globalization dominates economic, political, and technological interfaces among social institutions, nation-states, and the world. These are also dangerous times for teacher education in a democratic society because the expansion of neoliberalism as form of contemporary…

As she reflects on the question forming the title of this piece, the author begins with a premise--namely, that they became teacher educators because they are motivated to make a difference. They are committed to education, and they feel compelled to prepare the next generation of teachers. With the best of intentions, the author does not think…

Teacher preparation and licensing are constantly under attack from both national and state policy makers. The extraordinary reporting requirements imposed on university-based teacher preparation programs through Title II of the Higher Education Act and the promotion of "alternative routes" to teacher licensure by the federal government…

Human resource management in education is a vital function of hiring, developing, nurturing, and sustaining highly-qualified personnel for the school system. In an age where strong accountability measures are in place, school districts across America must become aware of the types of teachers and administrative staff being selected and retained…