This paper examines Kate Walsh's Abell Foundation report, which purports to prove there is no credible research supporting the use of teacher certification as a regulatory barrier to teaching and argues against reforms that would strengthen incentives to bring qualified teaches to inner city schools. This paper discusses inaccuracies in Walsh's…

The State of Minnesota funds its public schools primarily through a funding formula that provides school districts the same amount of revenue per pupil regardless of the size of their enrollment. An earlier study demonstrated that larger school districts incur less cost per pupil due to increased efficiency derived from economies of scale. This…

This report presents data from surveys of teachers, students, and principals on issues such as teaching quality and methods, school environment, expectations, attitudes, and job satisfaction. High-quality teaching is associated with students' having more positive attitudes about learning, school, and their futures. It is also related to…

This complete Kids into Health Careers (KIHC) information package contains guidance materials to use when working with local school systems. It provides operating instructions on how to choose and address an audience, either at a school or community-based organization. (KIHC is an initiative being developed to supplement the pool of qualified…

The purpose of the federal Title VI, Class Size Reduction program is to reduce class sizes in grades K-3 to 18 or fewer students. In AISD, these funds were used for recruiting, hiring, and training highly qualified teachers to raise student achievement through increased personal attention. This report summarizes evaluation results of AISD's Title…

Rural schools experience major problems in every aspect of personnel preparation in special education. Review examines what has been done and the problems faced by rural schools in the areas of traditional and nontraditional preservice programs, individual and program qualification mechanisms, personnel recruitment and retention, and retraining…

This paper explores the issue of low interest and involvement in teaching careers by students of color. The study discussed in the paper was designed to consider the following general supposition: teacher education programs, as they have traditionally selected, trained, and supported teachers, no longer suffice for the needs of today's…

Because of the central role of teachers in quality elementary and secondary education, this booklet briefly outlines the condition of public school teachers and how aspects of it have changed in the 10 years since "A Nation at Risk" was published. In short sections illustrated by tables and figures using data from various national…

Surveys of colleges, schools, and departments of education in most of the 73 state and private institutions that offer teacher preparation programs in California indicated that projections for the teaching profession showed little increase in diversity to ensure equity, or provided sufficient role models for students from all ethnic groups. The…

The Navajo Teacher Education Initiative was developed in 1992 to improve the quality of Navajo education through the recruitment and training of prospective Navajo educators. Currently, the 242 schools on or near the Navajo Nation are staffed primarily by non-Navajo teachers who often do not understand the significance of Navajo culture, history,…

The premises of this 2-year study are: first, what teachers know and can do is the most important influence on what students learn; second, recruiting, preparing, and retaining good teachers is the central strategy for improving our schools; and third, school reform cannot succeed unless it focuses on creating conditions in which teachers can…

This issue brief uses data from the 1987-88 and 1990-91 Schools and Staffing Survey to examine the various sources on which schools depend to meet the increasing demand for new hires to teaching. There are four sources of newly hired teachers: new college graduates, college graduates who pursued other activities before entering teaching (delayed…

This publication presents an overview of the demographic changes taking place in the United States and the growth of the Hispanic population expected by the year 2000. The personal experiences of a Cuban immigrant attending school in the United States and factors that contributed to his success in overcoming significant institutional as well as…

This case study describes the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Intern Program, which utilizes an alternative route to teacher certification in order to meet the teacher recruitment and training needs of a large urban multicultural school district. Findings suggest that between 1984 and 1990 the program recruited 1,100 new teachers to…

This guide, volume four of a six-part series, describes several community-outreach methods and provides practical outreach suggestions that are based on experience, as well as typical problems and the ways practitioners have chosen to resolve them. The guide is divided into three parts. Part 1 focuses on recruitment. Specific topics cover ways of…