This paper, a teacher's informal account of her own professional growth and teaching experiences over a 10-year period, focuses particularly on her experiences as a participant in a non-credit seminar on children's thinking and on the impact this seminar had on her teaching. The seminar included wide-ranging questions of philosophy, teaching…

One of the problems in re-imagining the educology of teacher education lies in how we talk about theory and practice. Often theory and practice are spoken about as if they are opposites of each other, and sometimes they are--in the sense that each has to compete with the other in terms of time. Even when there is general agreement that both theory…

Examines the extension of Norway's half-year graduate certificate of education requirement to one year, using as an example the change that occurred at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. The paper explains the importance attached by the national guidelines to teaching theory in school-based settings that offer practical classroom…

Four particularly troublesome problems for beginning teachers are imitation, isolation, transfer, and teaching technique. The structure of many teacher education programs contributes to such problems. The article describes the changes in the teacher education program at the Catholic University of America to overcome such problems. (SM)

In this book, Gail Thompson asked the students in a low performing school to be candid about their high school experiences. Using this information and relying on data from questionnaires and focus groups, Thompson discovered a huge gap in perception between how teachers and students view their experience of school. The book explores this…

This report presents findings stemming from the first-year evaluation of the Governor's Educator Excellence Grant (GEEG) program, one of several statewide performance incentive programs in Texas. In the fall of 2006, the GEEG program made available non-competitive, three-year grants to 99 schools ranging from $60,000 to $220,000 per year. Grants…

This paper presents the latest in a series of studies examining school district report cards. The purpose was to study the relationships among factors reported on school district report cards from Nevada high schools. The 44 categories reported on Nevada's 1993-94 report card represent the study's independent variables, grouped into the areas of…

This article tells the story of a group of teachers who experienced change in the face of a newly formed professional development school--one that loosely implemented many of the principles associated with the Holmes Group model. Specifically, these teachers became active participants on the Steering Committee, a group formed within the context of…

Urban education problems require long-term conceptual analysis leading to reconstruction. Focused preparation is necessary; that is, prospective teachers, counselors, psychologists, and administrators must learn to understand each other's problems and functions, and the educational and other issues confronting them in the inner city, so they can…

This report presents the results of the 2000-01 Status of the American Public School Teacher survey. This survey has been conducted every 5 years since 1956. In 2000-01, surveys were sent to 2,826 of the nation's approximately 2,953,000 public school teachers, with a 67.4-percent response rate. The resulting data are presented in the areas of: (1)…

The experiences of six vocational education teachers from several high schools in Chesapeake County, Maryland, who "lived under" the educational reforms of the past 2 decades were examined in a phenomenological study. The study, which used the approach designed by Van Manen in "Researching Lived Experience," included consideration of the…

Three retired teachers reflect on their teaching careers, which began in one-room schools in Wisconsin, and discuss their reactions to changes involving the educational level and credentials of teachers, curriculum and technology, teacher expectations of students, and community expectations of teachers. Their positive attitudes challenge…

States have created "alternate" routes to teacher certification. Comparison of alternate and college-based programs reveals clear trends in recruitment but a mixed picture regarding development of expertise. Alternate certification represents a radical departure from the current norm of teacher preparation. Several factors have led to…

Stimulated by the ineffectiveness of the English department's teacher preparation program that remained remote from the actual classroom situation and was conducted by a single methods teacher who had not been in a public school teaching situation for at least ten years, the department chairman at the University of Utah attempted to make his group…

Teacher networks used in California and Vermont are examined. Interviews, observations, and document analyses identified how teacher beliefs, teacher experience, social influences, and practical circumstances interacted with program goals and methods to shape teachers' experiences with networks, views of teaching and learning, and classroom…