Examines the impact of the standards reform movement on students, schools, and universities, exploring challenges inherent in efforts to recruit, prepare, certify, and retain highly qualified teachers to serve the increasingly diverse 21st century classroom. Explains how the future of millions of poor and minority U.S. children rests in the hands…

In September 1998, the California State Legislature passed SB 2042, legislation that authorized the reform of teacher recruitment, certification, and licensing in the state. Its provisions are unique in that they represent the first time in California's history that almost all of the standards dealing with teacher preparation and induction were…

An explanation of the impending shortage of minority teachers and suggestions for increasing the supply of minority teachers compose the crux of this document. The following specific actions may be taken by local school districts, colleges of teacher education, teacher certification boards, and teacher recruitment and selection offices to ensure…

Three scenarios are offered for the future of teaching. The first includes reforms such as requirements for a full liberal arts program for teacher candidates, a fifth year of professional education, a carefully supervised induction, and tests of subject-matter knowledge, professional knowledge, and performance. The second scenario examines the…

Many of the social reasons that prompted certain people to choose teaching careers in the past, when the only options available to them were bleak in comparison, are no longer valid. Talented people who enter teaching must now do so out of a positive attraction to teaching. Unfortunately, teaching has few positive attractions and those few it does…

Why we must subsidize intellectual curiosity in public schools is discussed and the need for a serious campaign to excite young people about teaching as one of the fundamentally most important professions available to Americans is examined. (RM)

This article reports on a survey of chief state school officers which assessed state policies that influence the quality of teachers and teaching. Twenty-one recommendations to help guide state educational policy and strengthen teacher preparation are discussed. (DF)

This newsletter's central item is an essay on teaching as a profession and its condition in the midst of current trends and historical movements. It discusses teacher education, recent reform efforts to incorporate new understandings of teaching and learning in programs for prospective teachers, establishment of professional development schools,…

This article outlines a teacher preparation scheme which includes a liberal arts degree, a year of graduate school emphasizing pedagogical and professional knowledge, and a one-year supervised internship. Reactions to this plan are described, as are alternative plans, some of which are seen as impediments to professionalization of teaching. (IAH)

The head of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services urges special educators to remain committed to quality educational services, to serve as leaders in the regular education reform called for in the national education strategy "America 2000," and to recruit special education personnel representing diverse ethnic and…

The metaphor of securities investments is applied to a critical analysis of an experimental program designed to recruit, train, and retain bright high school students as teachers. Data from a longitudinal study of the Brindenthal Internship in Teaching Program forms the basis for the analysis. (IAH)

A recent report by a national policy studies institute dedicated to Latino affairs proposes that the cycle of educational failure among Latinos can be broken with more active efforts to recruit, prepare, and retain Latino teachers. This is especially so, it is argued, because of growth of the Latino community. (MSE)

Educational reform over the past two decades has focused primarily on schools as the critical units of change, often ignoring the role of districts and their effect on schools' performance. Although national reform efforts such as the recently reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act (the No Child Left Behind Act), are directed…

Emiliana Vegas surveys strategies used by the world's developing countries to fill their classrooms with qualified teachers. With their low quality of education and wide gaps in student outcomes, schools in developing countries strongly resemble hard-to-staff urban U.S. schools. Their experience with reform may thus provide insights for U.S.…

The Task Force on Teaching was asked to gather research, review literature, and collect testimony on improving teaching. Two papers are presented: (1) "Attracting and Retaining Talented Teachers" (Cindy K. Currence); and (2) "Building State Strategies to Attract and to Retain Talented Teachers" (Robert Palaich). This report…