Many schools across the country face persistent teacher working condition challenges that are closely related to high teacher turnover rates and chronic difficulties in recruiting and retaining teachers. Center for Teaching Quality (CTQ) research examining working conditions survey results in both North Carolina and South Carolina demonstrates…

This report presents information from the February 1997 Select Seminar on Excellence in Education. The Select Seminars have been held since 1985 as a form of professional development, offering a forum for educators to consider major issues and make written recommendations to improve the quality of education. Participants in the 1997 Seminar were…

A new national research consortium, the Center for the Study of Teaching and Policy (CTP), is designed to investigate the relation between excellent teaching and policymaking at the national, state, and local levels. Policy efforts to produce excellence in teaching must: (1) attract, recruit, and retain capable teachers; (2) develop teachers'…

In the wake of administrative reforms, curriculum revisions, and assessment requirements introduced in New Zealand in the late 1980s that increased workloads and stress for teachers, a survey studied the roles and workloads of primary school teachers. How workloads have changed, and how resulting pressures affected teachers' professional work,…

This collection of three reports by Swedish educators deals with problems of educational change posed by new patterns of teacher education and tasks at primary and secondary levels. The reports are preceded by Marklund's introduction, "The Background to Questions Concerning New Patterns of Teacher Education and Tasks." The first report, "Research…

Teachers, in cooperation with parents and industry, are the key to revitalizing public schools. Giving technology-based education a central place in the planning process is an important dimension of school reform. (MLF)

Discusses the meaning of teacher excellence and offers some reasons why excellent teachers are in short supply. Suggests steps to improve teacher quality and performance. (RBW)

This book examines the effects of reforms in some countries' national education systems, noting that far from improving education, they have often made it more difficult for teachers to do a good job in the classroom. It focuses on how teaching has changed and continues to change in England's educational reform climate. The book argues that many…

Successful democracies and economies demand that all students acquire analytical thinking, adept communication, and complex problem-solving skills. This kind of authentic learning requires highly skilled, accomplished teachers working within a school climate that promotes powerful learning experiences. Recent research shows that the design,…

Current federal efforts to reform U.S. education overemphasize competition, measurement, and the education-work relationship; distract educators and educational policymakers from tackling structural inertia problems besetting schools; and engender cynicism and passive resistance in already overworked teachers. America 2000 fails to use serious…

Examines educational reform efforts and other variables that result in increased demand on teachers' task time and energy. Advocates the use of a teacher work-year model that acknowledges the limited time of teachers and that encourages teacher input about the resources required for new programs and priorities. (LP)

Thirteen teachers and coordinators of vocational education and training in schools (VETiS) programs in eight Australian secondary schools were interviewed to determine the extent to which their involvement in school-based vocational education and training (VET) was grounded in their contact with contemporary workplaces, to identify the nature of…

This study examined the concerns and confidence of 10 educators (9 elementary and secondary school teachers and 1 school principal) as they adopted naturalistic assessment procedures. Participants enrolled in a 4-month graduate course and implemented various literacy assessment procedures in their classrooms. Data were collected through the Stages…

Since the early 1980s, the New York State Board of Regents and the State Education Department have advanced a complex reform agenda centered around the development of curriculum and related standards. These reforms have considerable implications for the allocation and use of human resources within schooling systems. This paper reports on a series…

This book, a collection of photographs of over 40 schools in Murray County, Georgia, from the early 1900s to the present, is divided into sections according to geographical areas of the county. Photographs portray sporting events, original school buildings, school clubs, graduating classes, school classes, teachers, and administrators. With each…