In the last decade, the education and policy communities in California have undertaken a major effort to reform the preparation of public school teachers. At the heart of this work is quality education for all children and high-quality teacher education. With the passage of Senate Bill (SB) 2042 in 1998, the state has set in motion the building of…

The New York edition of the National Council on Teacher Quality's (NCTQ's) 2009 "State Teacher Policy Yearbook" is the third annual look at state policies impacting the teaching profession. It is hoped that this report will help focus attention on areas where state policymakers can make changes that will have a positive impact on teacher…

Two job analyses were conducted to define knowledge domains for newly certified chemistry and physics teachers, respectively, to perform their jobs competently. The results of the job analyses will be used to develop test specifications for the Praxis II Series subject Assessments in Chemistry and Physics. Initial draft domains were prepared for…

In 1989, New Zealand abolished the inspectorate that evaluated beginning teachers and made recommendations for certification. Schools were made responsible for the process of induction and recommendation of teachers for registration as certified teachers. The School of Education of New Zealand's University of Waikato developed a partnership with…

Principals and teachers are becoming frustrated with conventional evaluation practices typically used to determine teacher effectiveness and, thus, tenure and promotion. This Digest explains that as new performance standards are being developed, there are reconfigured assessment designs requiring an array of reflective, analytic skills. Creation…

This report presents projections of classroom teaching positions in kindergarten through grade 12 for regular public schools in New York State. Two basic assumptions underlying the projections of classroom teachers needed for 1992-93 through 1996-97 were: (1) the numbers of teachers in all subject areas in the base year, 1991-92, were adequate to…

The 1992 Washington State Legislature gave the State Board of Education (SBE), in conjunction with the Governor's Council on Education Reform and Funding (GCERF), responsibility for completing a review of certification policies to develop an outcome-based certification system for teachers. To accomplish this task, the SBE/GCERF Professional…

The Portfolio Process, piloted by the University of West Florida and recently mandated by the Florida State Board of Education as the central element of the Florida Beginning Teacher Program, is a model for professional development of teaching competence. The portfolio is both a product and a process. As a product, the portfolio is a personalized…

The content validity of the National Teacher Examinations (NTE) Core Battery tests of communications skills, general knowledge, and professional knowledge was examined to determine whether this commercially available test was suitable for initial teacher certification in Idaho. Focus was on recommending adoption scores (cut scores) to the State…

The current status of teacher testing practices and materials in the public schools of the District of Columbia was evaluated. This document reports the findings and recommendations of eight professionals who convened in Washington, D.C., on November 17-19, 1987. These consultants, via interviews with practitioners, found a high degree of…

The Georgia Teacher Certification Tests were developed and validated to be job-related and to reflect the minimum content knowledge that is necessary to teach in each certification area in Georgia classrooms. Three assessment instruments are used in evaluating the performance of preservice students and beginning teachers. The Teacher Performance…

Involving 195 vocational, technical, and adult education (VTAE) personnel from Wisconsin's 16 VTAE districts, this study was designed to identify the teaching competencies needed by beginning VTAE teachers and to recommend alternative delivery systems for obtaining professional competencies necessary for VTAE certification. With plans to provide a…

The New York State Board of Regents and the State Education Department have approved a plan to implement a written licensing examination as the first step in a process to professionalize teaching. However, important issues and questions are raised when considering this testing component, such as: (1) the questionable validity of tests already in…

Reports on a 3-year project, conducted by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), the Texas Education Agency, the Texas Foreign Language Association, and the University of Texas, to help establish an oral proficiency requirement based on the ACTFL guidelines for certification of new foreign language teachers. (Author/CB)

This report presents data on Tennessee's teaching workforce. There has been a recent increase in the percentage of new, inexperienced teachers hired in Tennessee. While there was no change in teacher turnover in recent years, the loss of new teachers became more serious throughout the 1990s. Lack of teacher and administrator diversity remained a…