A survey of sociology departments revealed that good teaching is not taken seriously in evaluation of candidates for new positions and in decisions regarding promotion and merit pay increases. The relative weights given to teaching and research and how to overcome resistance to rewarding teaching excellence are discussed. (Author/RM)

Charter schools are expected to be innovative and to look different than traditional public schools. There is evidence that charter school administrators are taking advantage of opportunities to be innovative in their hiring practices and that teachers in charter schools look different than their colleagues in traditional public schools. It is not…

This study looks at the distribution of all 140,000 teachers in 2002-2003 among Illinois' public schools using five teacher attributes that have been shown in previous research to be related to student performance and for which they were able to obtain data--college competitiveness, years of experience, type of credential, performance on the Basic…

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…

This report examines the current status of teacher quality in the city and what the School District of Philadelphia is now doing to ensure that all classrooms have highly trained, motivated, and knowledgeable teachers ready to boost the achievement of the district's 188,000 students.The report shows that teacher quality in Philadelphia has not…

This study investigated the relationship between several components of teacher burnout and various professional factors. Professional factors included professional qualifications, teaching level, professional growth, professional commitment, and role efficacy. Components of teacher burnout included development of negative attitudes toward students…

Data from the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) for the 1999-2000 school year were examined to determine the similarities and differences between Michigan's charter and traditional school teachers. Data reveal that charter school teachers are much less likely to have appropriate certification than their counterparts in traditional…

This report contains national trend and predictor data for the supply of public school K-12 teachers in eight cognate areas: general elementary education; mathematics and science education; language education; social studies education; arts, physical, and health education; business and vocational education; other general education; and special…

Data from a survey of part-time faculty in higher education indicate that the reward structure for part-timers differs significantly from that of full-time faculty and that the skills of part-timers do not have a statistically significant effect on their salaries. Instead, salaries are influenced largely by institutional policies and market…

This study assessed the predictive validity of the Urban Teacher Selection Interview (UTSI) for 68 traditional, alternative licensure, and professional development school placement teacher candidates. The UTSI attempts to predict students who will become successful teachers. Results identified only a limited number of significant predictors while…

Reports on the responses of headteachers and teachers in 570 primary schools in England and Wales to the introduction of the national curriculum in art. Finds that a significant majority of the respondents welcomed the national curriculum. (CFR)

Black Studies as a field appears to be in the stage of institutionalization, requiring that questions of who is qualified to teach and what is required to teach Black Studies be answered. Issues of scholarship defining an alternate history of the United States are discussed. (SLD)

Reports on a study of 18 social studies teachers' concepts of justice. Finds that three dominant themes emerged: (1) justice as right and wrong; (2) justice as fairness; and (3) justice as an ideal or standard. Concludes that responses suggest that social studies teachers' education in political theory may be insufficient. (CFR)

Trends in teacher education in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia are examined in the context of changing demographics and the process of reconstruction of the educational systems. Teacher-pupil ratios, teachers as a percentage of workforce, teaching loads, qualifications, and age and gender trends are discussed. (MSE)

Virtually everybody interested in improving the performance of schools concentrates on the importance of teacher quality. Yet policy recommendations related to teacher quality frequently do not incorporate existing evidence about performance. This paper reviews the various strands of research related to teacher quality, including the role of…