Addresses issues related to attracting and keeping qualified teachers in rural schools. Discusses advantages and disadvantages of teaching in rural areas, preparation of rural administrators for dealing with elevated attrition levels and special needs of new teachers, ideal teacher requirements for rural positions, orientation and support services…

Presents an interview with Kati Haycock, Director of the Education Trust, discussing: challenges to developing high quality staff development in schools serving low-income, minority students; teacher turnover; rural poverty; content-oriented staff development; learning from colleagues; making time for staff learning; willingness to change and…

Drawing upon empirical data, this article explores the ways in which school culture and leadership impact on new teachers' learning in the workplace. The study was carried out over a two-year period and involved a cohort of 14 new teachers and 18 elementary and secondary schools. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with the new…

From a case study looking at continuing professional development (CPD) within a rural primary school cluster, teachers' views of the way their needs were met, what controlled their CPD, and the impact of school and system needs on their CPD experiences were analysed. This confirmed the existence of tensions between these levels of need in relation…

Teacher self-evaluation encourages teachers to examine their personal teaching activities in order to understand and improve their practices. This publication explains what teacher-self evaluation is, why it is important, self-evaluation methods and procedures, the role of the principal's evaluation, influential factors, self-evaluation standards…

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between teachers' perceptions of instructional evaluations by principals and their attitudes toward the supervisory conference. It also sought to determine whether teachers' attitudes are affected by six different variables: race, age, sex, years of teaching, level of assignment, and…

This paper summarizes research on teacher attitudes and performance under clinical supervision. The literature for comparative studies of inservice personnel (not student teachers) in elementary and secondary schools was extensively searched. The 19 complete and 4 in-progress studies reported are grouped as follows: (1) attitudes toward…

The methodology, results, and implications of a study of instructional leadership styles of principals of four unusually successful inner city schools are outlined in this general summary. The principals studied were selected with the help of expert opinion and student test scores. Data comprise ethnographic observations and interviews of the…

This paper explores the mutual process by which a principal and teachers in an urban elementary school develop the principal's leadership. Data were collected for this research throughout a principal's first year through systematic observations (shadowing) of the principal; semi-structured interviews with teachers, administrators, parents, school…

Most school administrations rely on one of two main forms of social control to ensure teacher conformity with organizational goals. The first, feedback and socialization, depends on teachers' attitudinal and behavioral conformity, commitment, and personal involvement in maintaining high standards. The second, programming and sanctions, depends on…

Teachers' utilization of personal practical knowledge in effecting school reform was analyzed in a three-year project in a Toronto inner city elementary school. The major unit of study was the school, investigated through the eyes of teachers, principal, and other people responsible for school policy. The study was pursued in the context of the…

Teachers' utilization of personal practical knowledge in effecting school reform was analyzed in a three-year project in a Toronto inner city elementary school. The major unit of study was the school, investigated through the eyes of people responsible for school policy. The study, presented in four volumes, focused on the school board's Race…

Results of a study involving 450 teachers in three California school districts show that two sets of standards exist for judging the effectiveness of teacher unions. For union leaders, legitimacy means keeping promises to teachers by winning concessions from management and, at the same time, working toward a more credible and cooperative…

Small community or vocational colleges often face the problem of trying to run quality academic programs with adjunct or part-time faculty who have little contact with the regular faculty and little say in policy-making. The Utah Valley Community College writing program, which successfully combined regular and adjunct faculty in planning and…

The effective schools movement, a program which involves school staff in diagnosis of problems, decisions on correcting them, research on the effectiveness of various alternatives, and training and assistance with improvement efforts, has focused, up until now, on elementary schools. The feasibility of transferring these programs to high schools…