Chronically poor teaching by marginal staff is damaging to a school. Inept and ill-prepared teachers lose control of their classrooms, generating a ripple effect throughout the school and the community. Principals must erase this mediocrity by effectively salvaging marginal performers possessing training deficiencies or personal problems and…

Reviews the historical background of teacher tenure and discusses, using state court decisions, the bases for teacher dismissal, including insubordination, moral misconduct, disability, job elimination, and incompetence. Notes seven types of incompetence warranting dismissal, involving discipline, scholastic ability, pupil performance, and other…

Competency-based pay provides an incentive for employees to enhance their capacity for performing their jobs. Salary increases are not linked to past performance, but to future professional growth to meet increasingly higher expectations. Discussions to identify key teaching competencies must precede implementation. (MLH)

School administrators' failure to take action against teacher incompetence results in decreased student achievement, low teacher morale, diminished confidence in schools, teacher and administrator liability, and increased litigation. To break the cycle of "inarticulitis" (nonstraightforward communication about marginal performance), a new paradigm…

Summarizes 10 research projects that competed for the American Association of School Administrators'"Outstanding Research Presentation Award." Topics included early entry to kindergarten, Project SHAL, reading approaches, superintendents and school boards, preferred learning styles, gender bias, teacher evaluation, administrators' brain…