Three issues on teacher quality are addressed: (1) How can teachers more representative of the student population be recruited? (2) How can the intellectual calibre of prospective teachers be assured? and (3) How can teachers' actual classroom practice be improved? In discussion on the first issue, it is pointed out that with the influx of…

Teacher incentive systems enable school districts to address the current concerns of their constituencies: teachers' concern with salaries, administrators' concern for attracting good people into the teaching profession, and community concern that increased expenditures for teacher salaries have not improved education. Accordingly, this handbook…

This paper discusses the problems of the teaching profession from the perspective of the classroom teacher, and attempts to develop a set of policy recommendations related to improving teaching conditions and teacher effectiveness. Information collection focused on data obtained from in-depth interviews conducted with 73 elementary and secondary…

Countless reports have analyzed the impact of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 on teacher quality and student achievement. What many of these reports truly leave behind, however, is the reality that state governments--not the federal government--have the strongest impact on the work of America's 3.1 million teachers. With that in mind, three…

The "State Teacher Policy Yearbook" examines what is arguably the single most powerful authority over the teaching profession: state government. This Colorado edition of the National Council on Teacher Quality's (NCTQ's) "State Teacher Policy Yearbook" is the first of what will be an annual look at the status of state policies…

This memo contains a comprehensive review of past, present, and likely future conditions related to the supply and demand situation of public school teachers. Primary emphasis is placed on the quantitative rather than the qualitative aspects of the teacher supply and demand picture. Section I summarizes and presents highlights of findings on: (1)…

This paper attempts to position the teaching career within the context of the changing policy paradigm of lifelong learning. The paper locates the emergence of this policy within some of the fundamental social and economic changes which are re-shaping contemporary society. It emphasises that society's requirement of a highly educated, well…

The federal Class-Size Reduction (CSR) Program, P.L. 105-277, begun in Fiscal Year 1999, represented a major federal commitment to help school districts hire additional qualified teachers, especially in the early elementary grades, so children would learn in smaller classes. The CSR program also allowed funds to be spent as professional…

This policy brief presents a discussion of what needs to be done to empower, attract, and retain good teachers. Consistent with educational reform efforts, the Southeastern Regional Vision for Education (SERVE) invited the 1992 and 1993 Outstanding Teachers of the Year from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina…

This document, organized in 3 parts, reports significant achievements at the elementary, secondary, and higher education levels in United States public education, and discusses the professional development of teachers as a major achievement and innovative movement. Part one describes the governmental organization and the grade placement structure…

Discusses the need for minority teachers to be role models and counselors if Black and other minority students are to achieve academically. Proposes the following solutions: (1) hire and promote more minority teachers on the basis of potential rather than experience; and (2) improve the image and effectiveness of teachers, regardless of…

Reviews historical trends in the academic abilities of education majors, considers the importance of such abilities in teachers, suggests factors affecting attitudes toward educational careers, discusses past proposals for attracting academically superior students to teaching, and suggests offering forgivable loans to superior students who will…

In recent years, the debate over teacher quality and preparation has gained new urgency. Competing groups of partisans have dominated this debate: one seemingly eager to assail the nation's education schools and to suggest that there is an insufficiently defined body of professional teaching knowledge, the other committed to advancing…

Edvantia, Inc. (formerly AEL) publishes "TransFormation" twice a year to provide policymakers with interpretive summaries of significant reports and rigorous studies about school transformation, giving special attention to research with possible implications for improving low-performing schools.This final print issue of…

This issue focuses on what recent research from Tennessee, Texas, Massachusetts, and Alabama says about the most significant factor that impacts student achievement: the teacher. After presenting teacher effectiveness data from the four states, it discusses what makes an effective teacher, focusing on the need for strong verbal and math skills,…