Alabama Best Practices Center (ABPC) was formed to help educators spread innovation and scale up successful teaching and learning practices. ABPC is the professional development arm of A+ Education Partnership, a statewide business/community/education nonprofit founded in 1991 to advocate for excellent public schools. Since 1999, ABPC has…

The 2009 "State Teacher Policy Yearbook" provided a comprehensive review of states' policies that impact the teaching profession. As a companion to last year's comprehensive state-by-state analysis, the 2010 edition provides each state with an individualized "Blueprint for Change," building off last year's "Yearbook"…

Three major purposes comprise the focus of this study. First, it determined the perceptions of Alabama public school principals regarding the degree of importance and extent of implementation of 21 specific educational reform recommendations from 7 major national reform proposals issued in 1983. Second, it discovered the perceptions of these same…

For five years running, the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) has tracked states' teacher policies, preparing a detailed and thorough compendium of teacher policy in the United States on topics related to teacher preparation, licensure, evaluation, career advancement, tenure, compensation, pensions and dismissal. The "2011 State…

This report examines the design and operation of efforts by several states that are implementing initiatives to improve low performing schools, drawing out lessons that could be applied in Tennessee. It focuses on why initiatives in Kentucky and North Carolina deserve attention; core ideas shaping Kentucky's and North Carolina's programs; what…

Surveys of 265 elementary and secondary physical education teachers from Alabama assessed their inservice program needs with a focus on professional development needs and preferred inservice program arrangements or settings. Results indicated that physical educators wanted inservice program content to meet their unique needs but that many local…

The Hale County (Alabama) school system and the University of Alabama formed a long-range collaborative relationship targeted at meeting staffing shortages and improving science instruction in the rural county. Statistically significant gains were achieved in the science teachers' mastery of content, teaching methodology, and attitudes toward…

This brief will highlight three major findings from Southeast Center for Teaching Quality (SECTQ's) teacher surveys and interviews with more than 160 educators entitled "Unfulfilled Promise: Ensuring High Quality Teachers for Our Nation's Students". It will also profile two districts' approaches to meeting the requirements of NCLB and…