To receive School Improvement Grant (SIG) funding, districts must submit an application to the state that outlines their strategic plan to implement one of four intervention models in their persistently lowest-achieving schools. The four intervention models include: (1) School Closure; (2) Restart; (3) Turnaround; and (4) Transformation. The…

It is not easy to "come out" as a teacher, particularly at the middle school level. The overwhelming reason to come out is to make school a safer place for youth who know, think, or fear they are lesbian, gay, or bisexual. Adolescence is hard enough without positive role models for every aspect of who one is or is striving to become.…

To effectively address teacher turnover, Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) grantees need to follow an approach that entails aligning the tracking, diagnosing, and intervening processes. Unfortunately, too often retention strategies are implemented without regard to the various types of teacher turnover and specific data about the causes of turnover.…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) Halfway Point: Obama Administration Approves Seven More States for NCLB Waivers Bringing Total to Twenty-Six; Iowa…

This article focuses on the challenges arising for primary school teachers who have responsibility for teaching physical education (PE) and who are working in particularly complex and contestable policy contexts. In New Zealand provision of physical education is identified as occurring amidst multiple, and not necessarily compatible, sets of…

In this article, we reflect upon what research and other evidence tells us about the effects of many years of sustained, centrally initiated government reforms upon teachers' work, lives and effectiveness. It is important to note that whilst the general intentions of school reform are almost always to improve standards of teaching, learning and…

How are professors paid? Can the "best and brightest" be attracted to the academic profession? With universities facing international competition, which countries compensate their academics best, and which ones lag behind? "Paying the Professoriate" examines these questions and provides key insights and recommendations into the current state of…

The recent missions to Mars have produced a mass of data and information in all forms and have forced the minds of many people world-wide to rethink their own perspectives on life itself. This drama unfolding about 35 million miles from Earth, and digitally on our TV screens, is offering a growing reservoir for teachable moments. The curiosity and…

Matthew Moore's survey and analysis reflect an enormous amount of work, for which all of us who study or teach political theory should be grateful. They offer us a fascinating snapshot of who is teaching political theory today, of how they understand and think about what they are doing, and of "how they think others" think about theory. Much that…

This "Informed Educator" looks at recent research on teacher opinions about their working conditions to address the question "what matters to teachers?" District and school leaders can use this information to strengthen their efforts to recruit and retain high-quality teachers and, in addition, better support teacher efforts to educate students.…

If asked about the hottest topic or most talked-about players in American public education today, pretty much everyone's answer--from parents to policymakers to pundits--would include the words "teachers" or "teaching." From both intuition and experience, individuals know that good teaching matters. This has been true for a…

Teacher selection, retention, and evaluation form a contentious policy knot. This paper: (1) reviews the recent history of teacher labor markets; (2) describes the teacher selection, preparation and retention policies of three countries that successfully reformed their systems; (3) proposes a different theoretical guide; and (4) reviews key…

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) is a topic of increased policy interest in the Slovak Republic where improving quality in the ECEC sector is a subject of growing importance. The OECD has identified five effective policy levers to encourage quality in the sector: 1) quality goals and regulations; 2) curriculum and guidelines; 3)…

An increase in consumer interest in functional foods provides an opportunity for FCS educators to use this topic in Extension programming to promote current nutrition recommendations. The Functional Foods for Life Educational Programs (FFL) are a curriculum of six evidence-based mini-seminars that highlight specific functional foods that have the…

In the future, teachers will become "teacherpreneurs," that is, teachers who develop their pedagogical talent, "sell" their expertise, and find innovative solutions to challenges facing their students. Unions will become professional guilds, and teachers will use new technologies to meet all their students' needs.