This report recounts the establishment of the Utah Career Ladder Program, reviews findings from prior evaluations of the program, and describes in detail the 1993 evaluation authorized by the Utah State Legislature. The report also covers questions about the impact of the program in general. Chapter 1 provides a history of the Utah Career Ladder…

Based on results from a sample of the entire Montana public high school system and 5 Montana teacher training institutions, followed by a telephone survey of 15 superintendents/curriculum directors and directors of placement from the 5 institutions used in the original study, there were indeed definite hiring preferences shown toward applicant…

This book for beginning teachers is developed around six key problem areas: transition from student to teacher; professionalism; relationships (with students, parents, other teachers, principals, supervisors, school staff, and visiting consultants); lesson plans; discipline; and evaluation. A theoretical base is first established for each area and…

A 3-year research project commissioned in 1988 investigated Scottish probationer teachers' views of five aspects of their experience: initial training, recruitment and selection, induction, support, and assessment. Interviews and questionnaires were used to collect the views of 250 probationer teachers, their headteachers, other school staff,…

Research suggests that preservice training has at best only a modest impact on a teacher's later teaching. The fundamental behaviors of a beginning teacher apparently originate from sources other than the training program. A study sought to identify the origins of first-year and student teacher behaviors and to define these behaviors more directly…

The four case studies presented in this manual were designed to illustrate different approaches to the preparation of interns for low-income area schools offered by Teacher Corps programs around the country. The introduction presents the objectives of the manual and possibilities for its use. The research background for the case studies is given,…

This research brief summarizes a report by Christopher Jepsen and Steven Rivkin, "Class Size Reduction, Teacher Quality, and Academic Achievement in California Public Elementary Schools" (2002) [ED497298]. Intuitively, class size reduction is a good idea. Parents support it because it means that their children will receive more…

Teacher identity development and change is shaped by the interrelationship between personal biography and experience and professional knowledge linked to the teaching environment, students, subject matter, and culture of the school. Working from this framework, this study examines how beginning teacher interns who are part of an alternative route…

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to obtain an in-depth understanding of kindergarten teachers' instructional time allocations and the factors that influenced their decisions. A maximum variation sample of six kindergarten teachers was chosen representing variations in gender, socioeconomic status of the school where they taught, and…

This book describes some of the research undertaken during the Teacher Education Project, a four and one-half year research and development project undertaken by the Universities of Nottingham, Leicester, and Exeter (Great Britain) and funded by the Department of Education and Science. This project involved observation of over 1,000 lessons and…

To examine the hypothesis that alternative routes to teacher certification are more likely than traditional routes to recruit successful urban school teachers, beliefs and practices of 45 secondary English and mathematics novice teachers from both routes were studied. Findings confirm the importance of teacher sensitivity to urban multicultural…

Written in 1917, this book relates the author's experience as a beginning teacher in rural Kansas. The purpose of the book was to provide preservice teachers an overview of educational practices in rural schools at that time. In addition, educational policies are proposed that specifically aim to improve rural schools. The author was barely 20…

A study was conducted to examine the challenges and sources of support of new community college instructors during the first year of hire. Specifically, the study examined the problems new faculty encountered with regard to students, teaching load, collegial relationships, administration or college governance, and faculty organizations; the effect…

This volume contains personal reflections by four teachers in Texas on their year-long Trinity University intern teaching experience at Mark Twain Middle School, an urban professional development school in San Antonio. Part 1 by Corinne McKamey, "To understand teaching you have to be there, engrossed in the human interactions," is a…

This report contains a compilation of information about elementary and secondary education employment in Idaho with a focus on current supply and demand and teacher preparation and certification. Data were gathered from all Idaho districts through a survey and from 1993-94 Idaho Basic Education Data System (IBEDS) reports. Information provided by…