Richard DuFour, a leading advocate for creating professional learning communities in schools, shares his insights on why teaching has become an "embattled profession" and the steps teachers and school leaders can take to enhance teachers' practice and their working lives. DuFour explains how recent reforms aimed at educators themselves…

The inability to teach anything in high school other than what the curriculum dictates due to lack of time, and the near impossibility of getting to know one's students due to large numbers who are generally indifferent and often ill behaved, are two of the most common refrains sung by teachers of adolescents. A profile of four teachers, who…

A common but largely unacknowledged problem in public education in the US is the practice of hazing beginning teachers that leads to low retention rates. Factors that contribute to new teachers leaving high schools and often the teaching profession are presented and how these can and should be mitigated is discussed.