Emiliana Vegas surveys strategies used by the world's developing countries to fill their classrooms with qualified teachers. With their low quality of education and wide gaps in student outcomes, schools in developing countries strongly resemble hard-to-staff urban U.S. schools. Their experience with reform may thus provide insights for U.S.…

This study examines the role of effective mentor teachers by analyzing the strategies and skills they used, the obstacles and problems they encountered, and the outcomes they achieved. Data for five case studies were collected from five elementary mentor teachers, their proteges, and their principals--participants in the Oregon Beginning Teacher…

The study examined whether graduates and student teachers of a special education teacher education program were teaching in regular classrooms in a manner different than graduates and student teachers from the regular early childhood elementary education program. Questionnaires were completed by 120 graduates and 23 student teachers and the sample…

To evaluate the effectiveness of their program for preparing elementary school teachers, Western Oregon State College collected data from 13 first-year elementary school teachers recommended for certification in 1986. Information was collected on beginning teachers' perceptions regarding the effectiveness of the general preparation received,…

The perceptions of 44 Australian and 81 American senior elementary student teachers were compared to determine how their personal attributes, their teacher education programs, and their student teaching experiences influenced their abilities to perform 35 teaching competencies. Comparisons between the two groups revealed that American students had…

In this paper, the authors discuss three main ideas. First, they examine traditional approaches to teacher preparation, and argue that teacher-preparation programs currently tend to train teachers mostly on issues related to instruction. They propose that teacher-preparation programs would benefit from expanding their focus to include explicit…

Since the inception of "GOALS 2000: Educate America Act" (1994), the nation at large has been implementing standards for systematic reform. Teachers and teacher candidates must become "techno-savvy" overnight in order to comply with these reform initiatives as their level of expertise in educational technology will ostensibly affect their lesson…

Briefly described are workbooks and other materials focusing on specific aspects of teaching in general (teaching bright pupils, effective questioning, and mixed ability teaching, among others) and science teaching in particular. (JN)

The present article serves as an introduction to a special issue on recruiting and retaining culturally and linguistically diverse populations into the field of special education. Members of the Diversity Committee of the Teacher Education Division (TED) of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) and selected guest were invited authors.…

The "ISSS Annual Conference Proceedings" is a peer-reviewed professional publication published once a year following the annual conference. (Individual papers contain references.) [For the 2011 proceedings, see ED518589.]

Teacher education programs can benefit from research on student retention. By focusing on intervention for the very youngest student, failure at early levels may be reduced. Teachers must be taught to meet the needs of these students and to work more effectively with high-risk students who are potential drop-outs. Teachers can help at-risk…

This report describes a diagnostic instrument designed for school districts to use in assessing the training needs of bilingual staff. The construction and trial administration of the instrument involved several stages. Among these were the development of a pool of subscaled questions, questionnaire forms, and a pool of instrument questions. The…

Teachers for Rural Alaska is a fifth year program leading to secondary teacher certification and focusing on preparation for teaching in small village high schools with predominantly Native populations. Emphasizing a reflective inquiry orientation, the program aims to develop teachers who (1) can identify crucial problems and dilemmas in rural,…

The National Center for Research on Teacher Education held a retreat for teacher educators in programs connected with the Center's research. The proceedings, which enable a wider audience to learn about the deliberations, combine summaries of interactive sessions with presented papers. Interactive sessions focus on two issues: expertise in…

The Mercer University field-based program in elementary education provides practical experience beginning in the junior year. The prospective teacher starts with observations in public school classrooms while enrolled in a foundations of education course. Opportunities to work directly with children commence in the second quarter of the junior…