In this article, the authors provide a summary of the current techniques being used to recruit, retain, and support a diverse range of scholars, including students with disabilities, in a doctoral program. The manuscript provides a summary of the current need for leadership personnel who are scholars with knowledge in special education, general…

Since Finland emerged in 2000 as the top-scoring Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nation on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), researchers have been pouring into the country to study the so-called "Finnish miracle." How did a country with an undistinguished education system in the…

We examine earnings records for more than 90,000 classroom teachers employed by Florida public schools between the 2001-02 and 2006-07 school years, roughly 20,000 of whom left the classroom during that time. A majority of those leaving the classroom remained employed by public school districts. Among teachers in grades 4-8 leaving for other…

"Irreplaceables" are teachers who are so successful they are nearly impossible to replace, but who too often vanish from schools as the result of neglect and inattention. To identify and better understand the experience of these teachers, the authors started by studying 90,000 teachers across four large, geographically diverse urban school…

This review critically examines 15 empirical studies, conducted since the mid-1980s, on the effects of support, guidance, and orientation programs--collectively known as induction--for beginning teachers. Most of the studies reviewed provide empirical support for the claim that support and assistance for beginning teachers have a positive impact…

It is widely acknowledged that charter schools tend to have less experienced teachers and higher teacher turnover, but to date, little effort has been made to identify the contribution of faculty experience and retention to overall charter effectiveness. I do so using a twelve-year panel of charter and mainstream student achievement in North…

The 2008-2009 school year marked the second year of the 4-year pilot of the AISD REACH program. This report is the second in a series of reports documenting the progress of AISD REACH toward key program goals. [For the first report, see ED628201.]

ERS final report summarizing research on the Syracuse City School District (SCSD) and the participative community "work-out" process that was held in response to research results. The report shows how SCSD is in a strong position to improve and deliver on its promise for all children, but that to succeed, dramatic action is still…

Survey data were used to explore the current teaching status and reasons for leaving or considering leaving teaching for 154 career changers who all graduated from a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program over a 9-year time period. Respondents provided information about reasons for leaving teaching, indicating personal/family, career, and school…

In this paper, the authors review current practices in pre-service teacher education. They suggest that radical improvements are possible and that, if practiced, would help mediate many of the pressures young teachers face. To do so, the authors: 1) outline the experiences of young teachers to consider how teachers might thrive in a difficult…

This chapter summarizes a comprehensive and critical review that the authors recently completed of empirical studies that evaluate the effects of induction on various outcomes. The review's objective was to provide researchers, policy makers, and educators with a reliable and current assessment of what is known and not known about the…

At the request of the Urban League of Miami, the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) analyzed the distribution of teachers in Miami-Dade County Public Schools. In this paper, the authors examine teacher-level data to determine whether indicators correlated with teacher quality vary across the district based on socioeconomic differences, and…

The success of languages education in Australia depends on a dedicated force of proficient and qualified teachers. The reality, however, is that we are losing our teachers at an alarming rate. While teacher attrition across Australia has been widely researched, little investigation has been conducted specifically into the post-graduation…

This article explores the sociological dynamics of pedagogic transition that occur with the passage of newly qualified teachers (NQTs) of Physical Education (PE) into their first posts. It draws its empirical illustration from life history and ethnographic data collected in 2006, from two first-post NQT status PE teachers with contrasting…

While it is generally understood that defined benefit pension systems concentrate benefits on career teachers, and impose costs on mobile teachers, there has been very little analysis of the magnitude of these features and patterns of variation between states. The authors develop a measure of implicit redistribution of pension wealth among…