To update its teaching and departmental review processes, Phillips Academy Andover, an independent boarding school in Massachusetts, commissioned RAND Corporation researchers to review the school's policies, conduct a literature review, interview other independent high schools, develop potential recommendations for revision of Andover's processes,…

This book focuses on the status and work of full-time non-tenure-track faculty (NTTF) whose ranks are increasing as tenure track faculty (TTF) make up a smaller percentage of the professoriate. NTTF experience highly uneven and conditional access to collegiality, are often excluded from decision-making spaces, and receive limited respect from…

This case was developed for use with future school leaders in an educational setting. There are several topics of discussion that can be developed, including but not limited to policy implementation, the efficacy of professional learning communities, and improving student learning outcomes. The setting is a solidly performing middle school in the…

This column presents ideas and techniques to enhance science teaching. This month's issue describes preservice elementary teachers learning engineering principles from engineers. Few elementary teachers have experience with implementing engineering into the classroom. While engineering professional development opportunities for inservice teachers…

Determining the ideal academic setting in which students can be successful continues to be one of the primary goals of educators. Is there a best classroom structure in which students can be successful? Although there is research on the academic gains in the block schedule and in traditional departmentalized settings, both of which are common in…

Poverty most likely will always be a concern in the United States, particularly in at-risk populations of the public schools. Many students in poverty enter public schools behind in academic and social skills due to a lack of quality early learning experiences. Regular education teachers work diligently to catch these children up in vital skills;…

In this article we focus on university lecturers' approaches to the service teaching and factors that influence their approaches. We present data obtained from the interviews with 19 mathematics and three physics lecturers along with the observations of two mathematics lecturers' calculus courses. The findings show that lecturers' approaches to…

"Gender Differences at Critical Transitions in the Careers of Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Faculty" presents new and surprising findings about career differences between female and male full-time, tenure-track, and tenured faculty in science, engineering, and mathematics at the nation's top research universities. Much of this…

A discussion of conflict in academic departments describes current philosophies in conflict resolution, including a principled approach emphasizing positive benefits. Structures within organizations that inherently create conflict are identified, and various strategies for dealing with conflict are outlined based on one theory of response modes.…

This study considered how physical education teacher education students "perform" their "selves" within subject department offices during the practicum or "teaching practice". The research was framed by a conceptual framework informed by the work of Goffman on "performance" and "front". The findings revealed three common performances across the…

This book presents 11 contributed papers which examine communication aspects of the department chair position in academia. It is noted that most academic department chairs are not trained in management skills, including communication strategies. After an introductory chapter by Christopher H. Spicer and Ann Q. Staton, the following papers are…

Academic departments across the nation must reinvent new forms of collegiality and become more outward-oriented, more focused on results, and more entrepreneurial. They must develop new systems to reward their members, enhance productivity, and assure the quality of their work. Change strategies in the literature fall into six categories: (1)…

Discusses how teachers put together a science department portfolio of student work representing National Curriculum levels. (MKR)

Presents rankings of U.S., university, economics departments. Explains the rankings are based upon representation of the departments on the editorial boards of leading economics journals. Reports that results are similar to rankings based upon other criteria. (DK)

Analyzes the establishment, expansion, and contraction of geography departments at the college and university level beginning in the late 1800s and concluding with the present decade. Reports that in the 1980s the total number of geography departments in the United States decreased for the first time. (DB)