Addressing teacher shortages is essential to ensure all students have qualified educators who can guide their learning. This Spotlight will help readers learn what teachers say makes their jobs more difficult; review data measuring trends in teachers' job satisfaction; explore strategies for effective special education staffing; discover what…

The unionization of instructional workers is a central feature of U.S. higher education, with more than a quarter of those teaching college classes covered by collectively bargained contracts. Though dated, the best existing numbers indicate that more than 430,000 faculty members, graduate students, and related personnel are in bargaining units;…

Council for American Private Education (CAPE) is a coalition of national associations serving private schools K-12. "Outlook" is published monthly by CAPE. This issue contains the following articles: (1) High Levels of Satisfaction Among Private School Parents; (2) Private School Students Take Tough Courses; (3) Small Private Schools Can…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) "Building a Grad Nation": New Report Finds More than Half of States Increased High School Graduation Rate, Number of "Dropout…

This issue of "Assessment Update" presents the following articles: (1) A "Wisdom of Crowds" Approach to Outcomes Assessment (Gregory Burton); (2) Editor's Notes: Collective Assessment and DQP Follow-Up (Trudy W. Banta); (3) Satisfaction with Data Management Systems in Standards-Based Alignment (Brett Everhart and Jeanne M.…

Issues 266 through 282 of "Fast Facts" from the Library Research Service present data collected from libraries in Colorado and throughout the nation. Topics addressed in these "Fast Facts" from 2009 include interlibrary loan in academic libraries, public librarian salaries, book, newspaper, and periodical prices from 2004 to…

Much of the conversation in recent years about how to attract and retain high-quality teachers has focused on salaries--how much teachers are paid, the possibilities of differentiated pay scales, and pay for performance. But it has become increasingly clear that teachers take much more than salary into account when tallying up working conditions.…

"Outlook" is the monthly newsletter for the Council for American Private Education (CAPE). Each issue contains information relating to private education such as: new legislation and regulations, the most recent research, court rulings, national trends, federal initiatives, private school news briefs, and more. This issue includes: (1)…

To increase understanding about community college faculty members and an appreciation of what they do, the authors of this monograph focus on five major topics. "A Profile of Community College Faculty" relies on data from the various iterations of the National Survey of Postsecondary Faculty and other sources to paint a demographic profile of…

This brief, the third issue in the "Criminal Justice Issues for Arizona" series, reveals that Pinal County's specialized court for domestic-violence cases offers some promising results for dealing with this common and complex offense. This report contains an analysis of data collected in the Pinal County Domestic Violence Database, which…

School leaders are often placed on the "hot seat" when negative images of the school, its staff, or its students appear in the local media. Such reports can strongly affect a school's public and image and, in turn, impact the climate both in the community and within the school itself. Sometimes these perceptions are not based on fact; however,…

To provide quality education, a university needs to make available a well-equipped computing center. However, such centers are expensive, and their provision is a problem for administrators when budgets are tight. Hence, it is important that money be invested in services that will enhance user satisfaction the most. This study explores the…

A survey of 414 child care providers in southeastern Wisconsin reveals that cost as well as low wages and lack of benefits for workers can constrain providers from pursuing improvements to child-care quality. Of survey respondents, approximately half of whom are home-based and half center-based, 13% have at least three of five structural factors…

In 2004, the Dean of Arts and the Dean of Science at UBC partnered with the Arts Undergraduate Society and the Science Undergraduate Society to gain a better understanding of undergraduate student experiences and outcomes. The Undergraduate Student Survey on Student Satisfaction and Engagement (USS) was administered to all Arts and Science…

"Education Matters" is the monthly newsletter of the Association of American Educators (AAE), an organization dedicated to advancing the American teaching profession through personal growth, professional development, teacher advocacy and protection. This issue of the newsletter includes: (1) Making a Game of Math: AAE Affiliate Motivates…