Survey of 1,218 seniors in the 1989 graduating classes of Columbia College and Barnard College found that two-thirds of the respondents would consider taking a teaching job in a public school if one were offered the September following graduation. Roughly 36 percent of new liberal arts graduates might be willing to teach. This article explains…

NCLB's emphasis on seeing to it that all classrooms are staffed by highly qualified teachers is commendable. Teacher competence is the most important factor in student learning. The ability to define that competence had been gradually emerging from research and policy making before NCLB, but the law, unfortunately, is loosening its grasp on a…

Based on the Florida experience, one should expect, among other things, new problems for minority students, lawsuits against the tests, calls for tests of teachers, and scapegoating and blaming. (Author/IRT)

For a school to have a community of leaders, teachers must have opportunities to assume more responsibility, more decision-making power, and more accountability for the results. Teacher leadership can help build collegiality and break down communication barriers. Shared leadership models will persevere only if they are used to reorganize the work…

On the basis of a 3-year study, the authors have identified seven major stance types. They recommend that schools of education accept only candidates who are "child focusers,""pragmatists,""task focusers," and perhaps "contented conformists".

Guidelines for the selection and training of administrators who are demonstrably imaginative and creative. (JF)

Establishing expectations for teachers, identifying deficiencies, providing assistance, and documenting the process are not always effective. School boards, administrators, and teacher unions must commit themselves to making teacher dismissals a realistic option. Otherwise, current reform efforts will consist more of rhetoric than substance. (MLH)

The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and Texas teacher training institutions are squaring off because of Texas SB 994, a law that eliminates undergraduate degrees in education and caps required credit hours in undergraduate teacher education courses. This article interviews Carl Parker, Hendrik Gideonse, Mary…

Dispelling the myth that beginning teachers are fully equipped to handle the demands of their professions begins by acknowledging that the first months and years of teaching are full of pain, confusion, loneliness, and often humiliation. Schools can help by fostering beginner peer groups and encouraging early professional development and…

Educational reformers always attack the teacher instead of the school administrators. The improvement of education does not lie in firing teachers but may lie in recertifying administrators and looking at the teachers of teachers. (MD)

Proposes a radical change in teacher preparation that abolishes college and university departments of education and requires prospective teachers to demonstrate adequate preparation based on the courses they take and on their scores on examinations. (MD)

Poses an extended list of practical questions left unanswered by Myron Lieberman in his proposal (EA 519 376) for the creation of educational specialty boards to recognize outstanding teachers. (PGD)

The three approaches to bring about organizational change and meet the Los Angeles school district crisis are: administrative reorganization, curriculum and instructional improvements, and staff development. (JF)