A longitudinal study of elementary schools formally implementing the Multiunit School model collected data suggesting that teachers' feelings of autonomy and job satisfaction are less closely associated with teacher participation on faculty teams for the management of instruction and school administration than with the presence or absence of…

Education students planning to teach in rural areas need, but do not receive, specialized training. Among differences encountered by rural teachers are professional isolation and limited inservice training; assignment to more subjects, more grade levels, and more extracurricular activities; lower budgets and salaries; inadequate materials; less…

Eight priority recommendations are outlined for attracting and preparing teachers, developing the new teachers, improving the teaching climate, and rewarding effective teaching. Consideration is given to issues related to effective teaching within the framework of seven areas: (l) early student interest; (2) entry into teacher education; (3)…

The importance of considering institutional educational goals, organizational functioning, and adult personality development in designing faculty development programs is addressed. After a brief historical sketch of faculty development and the situation of the faculty member today. ethnographic descriptions of two universities and a liberal arts…

School teachers are in a profession that offers little advancement, but there is reason to believe that teachers go through significant developmental changes during their teaching years. Information about human development, career development, teacher characteristics, and the occupation of teaching indicates the likelihood of significant teacher…

This report details the work done in two New Jersey school districts to reduce the frequency and magnitude of professional illness absence. It deals with the circumstances of this improvement as well as with the philosophy and the new methods and procedures adopted and followed. The history of the state sick leave policy is traced from 1895 to the…

Describes a study which shows that large communications classes can be taught as effectively as smaller ones if the instructor uses "environmental" teaching methods, in which extensive student participation is guided through the use of explicit learning strategies and objectives. (MM)

A professor of education returns to the elementary classroom as a teacher's aide and learns that administrators can support teachers by (1) working to eliminate fragmentation in daily routines, (2) protecting teachers from overextension, (3) focusing more on individual students, (4) promoting teacher collegiality, and (5) fashioning a school…

In response to a California State education reform bill that requires professors of methods courses to return to the classroom once every three years, a university profesor of 15 years taught 9th-grade English in Watts. This essay presents nine tips for others who anticipate their own return to teaching. (IW)

Reports findings of national survey supported by grant from Florida Institute of Government (30 states responding) on questions about legislative initiatives to raise salaries, give cash awards to excellent teachers, hire paraprofessionals, and upgrade certification standards. Warns average science teacher age is mid-40s; retirement will sharpen…

This report by researchers from the Universities of Minnesota and Toronto examines the available evidence and offers educators, policymakers and all citizens interested in promoting successful schools, some answers to these vitally important questions. It is the first in a series of such publications commissioned by The Wallace Foundation that…

This study investigated how adult education teachers changed after participating in one of three different models of professional development (multisession workshop, mentor teacher group, or practitioner research group), all on the same topic of learner persistence. The study also investigated the most important individual, professional…

Imagine someone telling you that, within three years, new teachers would leave the profession for which they trained so hard. That is what is happening to 30% of today's promising new teachers who are not given the mentoring, direction, and professional development that is so desperately needed to keep them focused and enthusiastic. To handle this…

The purpose of this study was to explore the influencing and effective models of Chinese early childhood teachers' job satisfaction. Using a questionnaire of 317 teachers from 21 kindergartens in Shanghai, China, the present study established the influencing and effective structure model of teachers' job satisfaction. The results demonstrated that…

This book examines what can be learned from veteran teachers who not only continue to teach but also manage to remain enthusiastic about it despite deprivation and challenges. Nine chapters are: (1) "Teaching as Evolution" (e.g., lessons learned along the way and the promise of multicultural education); (2) "Teaching as…