THIS PAPER DISCUSSES CERTAIN SITUATIONAL FACTORS CONSIDERED IMPORTANT TO THE TEACHER SELECTION PROCESS. THE DISCUSSION FOCUSES ON THREE MAJOR TOPICS--(1) IDENTIFICATION OF SITUATIONAL FACTORS RELEVANT TO TEACHER SELECTION, (2) SITUATIONAL FACTORS PRESENTED TO SUBJECTS IN AN EXPERIMENT CONDUCTED AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, AND (3) POTENTIAL…

A long-standing problem for rural school districts is recruiting and retaining quality teachers for their classrooms. The lack of resources, low salary and incentives, and personal and professional isolation are some reasons why fewer good teachers choose to work in rural schools. In order to address the challenges facing rural schools, states and…

This paper is the culmination of a three-year study that sought to frame an initial answer to the question, "What are the circumstances and conditions under which National Board Certified teachers (NBCTs) can have a positive impact on low-performing schools?" The study, funded by Atlantic Philanthropies, was part of the National Board's more…

Teachers may be the most important element of an effective school, but does that mean that K-12 improvement must wait on the ability of schools or systems to recruit, nurture, and retain outstanding teachers? Such a strategy implies that widespread excellence hinges on the ability of publicly funded school systems to attract more than 3.3 million…

Most studies that have fueled alarm over the attrition and mobility rates of high-quality teachers have relied on proxy indicators of teacher quality, which recent research finds to be only weakly correlated with value-added measures of teachers' performance. We examine attrition and mobility of teachers using teacher value-added measures for…

Many of the schools in regional and inland areas of Australia find it difficult to attract and maintain quality and experienced staff, as do some of the more difficult to teach in schools in urban areas. To help overcome these problems Tasmania has instituted a transfer policy for state school teachers, as had other Australian state systems.…

This paper presents an overview of several of the problems and conditions of the teaching profession and discusses different issues related to the development and implementation of policies, programs, and practices designed to address them. The opening section examines the conditions of teaching--employment opportunities, teacher evaluation,…

This paper, one of the nine-booklet Teacher Quality Series, examines ten popular assumptions that underlie many new proposals to solve the problems of the teacher workforce. It is argued that many of these assumptions are unsupported by research on teaching. It is also suggested that the ability to attract, train and keep good teachers depends…

An examination of the various ways in which teaching is uncertain and how uncertainty pervades teachers' lives points out that teachers face uncertainties in their instructional content, ranging from difficult concepts, to unclarity about how teaching might be improved. These forms of uncertainty undermine teachers' authority, creating situations…

This document identifies teacher attitude as the most important variable in effective teaching, describes a preliminary study of teacher conceptions of reading, and outlines the scope of subsequent research on teacher decisions, patterns of instruction, and time allocation. Two instruments, the Proposition Sort and the Rep Test, were used to…

Presents an example of what can happen when a teacher is deprived of all decision-making powers with respect to her job, and is required to adhere blindly to restrictions of prescribed programs imposed from outside. Denial of autonomy leads to decline in the teacher's interest and a consequent loss to students. (Author)

Future staff development designs must be consistent with the organizational and environmental realities teachers confront each day. Various existing staff development programs are described and suggestions are made for alternative solutions which incorporate organizational and environmental factors. (JN)

A study of the conditions and resources of teachers sought to assess, through a national survey of 1,789 elementary and secondary school teachers, the degree to which four factors--job resources, decision making, communication with building-level administrators, and correlates of teacher satisfaction and career commitment--affect the teachers'…

This study sought to determine: (1) preservice teachers' perceptions of teaching as a career, and (2) differences in perceptions among groups of preservice teachers categorized on the basis of a variety of background variables. Subjects of the study were 101 education majors enrolled in a college in the Southeast. The survey instrument included 71…

Utah's involvement with career ladders grew out of the nationwide educational reform movement. The plan was to improve learning by improving the quality of teachers. This could be done by retaining superior teachers, attracting higher quality recruits, and improving teachers' working conditions. In 1984 the Utah Legislature focused on…