A 3-year research and development project examined ways to improve the retention of special education teachers in the Memphis (Tennessee) City Schools. Several individual studies identified sources of dissatisfaction with teaching and the conditions that would encourage career longevity among teachers. Responses from 470 special education and…

Statistics indicate that 15 percent of beginning teachers leave the profession after the first year of teaching, and more than 50 percent leave within 6 years. This study was conducted to identify the problems and concerns faced by neophyte teachers at the middle and high school levels, and to distinguish between the concerns of first-year,…

This book presents an assessment of collective bargaining in education. During the 1970's, while student enrollment declined, organizations representing public school teachers grew. Both the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers more than doubled their membership. Teacher contracts have expanded to include areas…

In 1990, William Rainey Harper College (WRHC) participated in the annual faculty survey conducted by the Higher Education Research Institute in California. Of WRHC's full-time faculty, 97 responded to the survey for a 50% response rate. Results from the survey were compared with those from two-year and four-year institutions nationwide. In…

Rural schools in South Africa are often found on farms. These "farm schools" are usually erected by the farmer to educate the children of farm laborers. While officially public schools, farm schools are on private property and maintained through private funds. The history of farm schools is closely linked with the political history of…

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…

This article explores the relationship between teachers perceptions of administrative practice in high schools and students perceptions of the school, teachers and their own performance. It was found that where decision making is perceived by teachers as collegial, collaborative, co-operative and consultative and providing adequate opportunities…

This study examines processes that personnel go through to assimilate the cultural norms of their schools. These processes are compared according to the teaching and learning environments of healthy, high achieving school districts and unhealthy, low achieving school districts. Specifically, this paper examines the "basket of crabs" effect, a…

This volume contains the appendices for the report on the Teacher Efficacy Study, an investigation of teachers' sense of efficacy and the extent to which teachers believe they can have a positive effect on student learning and achievement. Included in this volume are: (1) middle school site descriptions; (2) the middle school questionnaire; (3)…

This report updates information on private schools and provides nationally representative data on private school teachers. Two separate questionnaires were administered, one collecting information on school characteristics from administrators in a nationally representative sample of 1,174 private schools, and the second collecting information from…

A survey of faculty and selected administrators of liberal arts colleges was conducted, with the goals of achieving a greater understanding of the academic workplace for faculty in liberal arts colleges and identifying ways in which the vitality, commitment, morale, and productivity of the faculty could be enhanced. A total of 9,204 faculty in 142…

This review summarizes the rapidly growing body of findings on the social and organizational environment of teaching and examines one innovation--the collaborative school--that offers promise of an organizational context more conducive to effective teaching. Chapter 1 characterizes the actual conditions under which teachers work, focusing on…

This annotated bibliography was prepared to serve as background material for the writing of the synthesis paper "From Isolation to Collaboration: Improving the Work Environment of Teaching." Items were selected to represent the range of issues that pertain to the social and organizational context of teaching. The selected materials…

The extent to which the academic staff in the five oldest Nigerian universities expressed job satisfaction and motivation, in view of the seeming powerlessness of their Governing Councils, was studied. These universities are the University of Nigeria, Ibadan, Ahmadu Bello, Nsukka, and Ife and Lagos. A total of 157 teachers returned usable…

Progress in education depends very much on keeping up with the various trends that emerge around the world. In-service teacher training (INSET) is a formal means through which teachers are constantly updated with the new findings in the field. There are also self-directed development activities that complement formal training. The need for this…