As China charges forward into modernity, the nation is confronted with major economic and social changes. China's one-child policy and economic growth, for example, have altered the values and attitudes of parents, thereby creating new challenges for Chinese teachers. In addition, nontraditional ways of thinking in China's youth have led to a…

Teachers may be the most important element of an effective school, but does that mean that K-12 improvement must wait on the ability of schools or systems to recruit, nurture, and retain outstanding teachers? Such a strategy implies that widespread excellence hinges on the ability of publicly funded school systems to attract more than 3.3 million…

Most studies that have fueled alarm over the attrition and mobility rates of high-quality teachers have relied on proxy indicators of teacher quality, which recent research finds to be only weakly correlated with value-added measures of teachers' performance. We examine attrition and mobility of teachers using teacher value-added measures for…

Since 2002, North Carolina, under the leadership of Governor Mike Easley and the North Carolina Professional Teaching Standards Commission, has worked to improve understanding of a critical factor in student learning and teacher retention: the conditions under which teachers work. In 2006, 66 percent (more than 75,000) school-based licensed…

The purpose of the forum was to establish an agenda for action, supporting steps that individuals, institutions, organizations, and governments can take together in working to reform and revitalize science and technology education at all levels. This report contains the comments of some 50 speakers and attempts to capture the essence of the wide…

Researchers have attributed teacher turnover at both the state and national levels to the high incidence of teacher stress or burnout, a syndrome resulting from a variety of individual, organizational, and societal factors. Burnout involves physical, emotional, and attitudinal exhaustion generated by excessive demands upon the individual's energy,…

When teacher salaries are discussed, two very different pictures often emerge. The first of these portrays teachers as underpaid, overworked servants of the public good. The second paints a picture of an overpaid group of civil servants who spend very little time actually working. This report looks at Michigan teacher salaries. Teacher salaries…

Future staff development designs must be consistent with the organizational and environmental realities teachers confront each day. Various existing staff development programs are described and suggestions are made for alternative solutions which incorporate organizational and environmental factors. (JN)

Second-wave reform prescriptions generally lack a career development focus mindful of teachers' changing characteristics and needs over time. Grasping these developmental characteristics is essential to understanding veteran teachers' morale and performance problems and to implementing revitalization and school improvement efforts. Midcareer…

Surveys New Hampshire faculty regarding their perceptions of the importance of and satisfaction with faculty development activities specific to pedagogy. Findings suggest possibly low general faculty priority for pedagogy, greater interest in teaching improvement by younger and mid-career faculty, differing views from faculty and administrators,…

The director of the Chicago Academy for School Leadership addresses the kind of leadership that would have kept her, a former English teacher, from failing a struggling African-American student 30 years ago. A culture of collegial support, mentoring/coaching, results-driven professional development, and instructional leadership would have helped.…

Several initiatives hold great promise to reform teaching: redesigning initial teacher preparation; rethinking professional development; and involving teachers in research, collaborative inquiry, and professional standard-setting. U.S. teachers need to emulate their European and Asian counterparts, who are better paid, prepared, and supported and…

The present study examined the multivariate relationship between job satisfaction and burnout, experienced by Greek physical education school-based teachers. The sample consisted of 175 physical education teachers, from primary and secondary education. The Maslach Burnout Inventory (Maslach and Jackson, 1986) and the Employee Satisfaction…

This study examines role conflict, role ambiguity, and job satisfaction among Greek physical education teachers, and the extent to which role conflict and role ambiguity predict job satisfaction. All members of the sample of 61 physical education teachers were employed in Greek "Sport for all" programs. The standard multiple regression…

Most recent reform initiatives have begun outside the collective-bargaining process and are unregulated by collective-bargaining agreements. The collective-bargaining process should be used creatively to shape the changes that are now occurring. When public school teachers were granted bargaining rights, the scope of negotiation was limited more…