This handbook points out that all teachers regardless of grade level, assignment, or years of experience, need mentoring, and that the first days of school are critical to how the rest of the year will unfold. The handbook is intended to help ease the way for those beginning or experienced teachers who need help with curriculum decisions,…

This research analyzed the yield of degree graduates from teacher preparation programs for the national teaching force in public schools. Estimates were obtained for the percentage of such graduates who: (1) entered public school teaching soon after graduation; (2) delayed entering public school teaching for one or more years after graduation; and…

This report, prepared for the Pennsylvania Professional Standards and Practices Commission, summarizes the major recommendations for reforming the field of teaching as proposed by the Holmes Group and the Carnegie Commission. The paper compares the recommendations with current practice in the areas of career development and governance. Stages of…

To guide the development of teacher education programs at the University of Western Sydney Macarthur (Australia), a "Starting Teacher" questionnaire and the Graduate Career Council of Australia survey were administered to 48 early childhood and 168 primary teacher education students at their graduation ceremony in April 1993. These…

This publication is intended to assist Holmes Group institutions of higher learning in designing and implementing more effective programs to recruit and retain minority candidates in teacher education. Information from many sources, including the literature, was synthesized, and certain principles emerged as keys to diversifying the teaching…

This paper describes computer-mediated distance learning experiments in field settings by a rural teacher education program, in which student teachers and a student teaching seminar leader at Northern Michigan University conferenced via electronic mail. Participating student teachers, who were teaching in schools 300 miles apart, were expected to…

This report outlines and evaluates a project, Teachers Need Teachers (TNT), developed by the Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA). TNT is a teacher induction program for first-year teachers who are certified in bilingual education and teach limited-English-proficient students. Beginning teachers are assigned to experienced…

A 4-year preservice program is examined to ascertain the effectiveness of the program and its impact on participants as well as the impact it may have upon future teacher education programs. Data from questionnaires completed by current clinical students and their cooperating teachers are analyzed, discussed, and considered in conjunction with a…

A new professional licensure system for teachers developed by the Minnesota Board of Teaching in conjunction with the Educational Testing Service is described. Initial work with the Rand Corporation in 1987 provided a plan for a new licensure system. The state's expectations for a performance assessment system to measure the skills of first-year…

The four narratives presented in this paper represent the classroom triumphs and tribulations of four beginning minority teachers. The vignettes are part of a larger case study investigating the specific socialization experiences of these new teachers, graduates of the Peabody College (Tennessee) Internship/Induction Program, an alternative…

This study, conducted in Indiana, describes sources of teacher supply, various paths individuals take into teaching, and how the paths have changed over time. Findings are based on: a computerized file containing a record for each Indiana teacher from 1965 to 1988; a survey of all Indiana teachers who taught in school year 1987-88, but not in the…

The impact of test item multidimensionality was examined as it affected fitting items on a teacher licensure test to an item response theory (IRT) model. Test item data from the 1990 study of G. W. Guiton and G. Delandshere are used. The Connecticut Elementary Certification Test (CONNECT) is a licensure examination designed to assess the subject…

The results are provided of an initial analysis of the reliability (generalizability) of the System for Teaching and Learning Assessment and Review (STAR) as a comprehensive measure of classroom teaching and learning for making teacher certification decisions. The STAR contains 140 indicators of teacher effectiveness and student learning, which…

Intended to provide background information for task force use, this set of working papers concludes with recommendations for revising the University of Oregon College of Education teacher preparation programs. Section I summarizes the concerns of Oregon educators, reports recommendations made by an ad hoc state committee and the chancellor, and…

The past decade has been a productive era for classroom research. Recent investigations have yielded useful concepts for thinking about classrooms and about facilitating achievement. Research findings and concepts provide a way of considering classroom instruction, but they are not rules for classroom behavior. Some teachers believe (and behave…