Profiles Anna Kasov, veteran high school chemistry teacher disturbed by society's messages that chemistry is not women's work. Kasov tries to create an emotionally safe classroom atmosphere for both sexes. She suggests that teachers model intellectual risk-taking, encourage students to play with ideas, require students to treat classmates'…

A recent study examined 20 social studies teachers' beliefs and theories in 4 areas: instructional goals, depth vs. breadth of content coverage, perceptions of students, and conceptions of thinking. Teachers who reflect about their own practices, value thinking, and emphasize depth over breadth of coverage tend to have classrooms with a measurable…

The industrial age, by mechanizing production and reorganizing the workplace into large factory units, destroyed a pattern of life that saw living, working, and learning as a single interconnected entity. Conventional schooling, stressing abstract knowledge, has separated learning from the community and world of work. The new, higher order…

Interviews with 400 high school teachers nominated by colleagues suggest teacher leaders seek challenge, change, growth; are supportive of colleagues; serve as role models for students but not for other teachers. Interviewees felt their influence in the high school was curtailed by school-culture and professional norms, as well as self-imposed…

By fashioning a blended approach, two superintendents in radically different school districts systematically distinguished what worked and what was worth promoting from what was failing and had to be revised or eliminated. They both established credibility by encouraging teachers and principals to examine their practice, consider new ways of…

During December 1993 and January 1994, the Gallup Organization conducted the National Youth Survey: Attitudes Regarding Society, Education, and Adulthood. Based on telephone interviews with a sample of 630 children and teenagers, aged 10 to 17, the survey reveals optimistic attitudes, yet an emerging seriousness of purpose and waning of confidence…

As the student body grows more heterogeneous, white women continue to dominate the teaching profession. Disparity between teacher/student demographic profiles is of growing concern. Although not all studies find clear connections among teacher and student racial/ethnic backgrounds and student achievement, minority role models are needed. (MLH)

Creativity requires application and balancing of three abilities--the synthetic, the analytic, and the practical. Teachers should serve as creativity role models, encourage questioning of assumptions, allow mistakes, encourage sensible risk taking, design creative assignments and assessments, let students define problems, and reward creative ideas…

Educators cannot be rigid about using same- or cross-sex grouping, as both can be beneficial. Race and gender equity are complex, interrelated issues. Three ways of thinking can lead to potential conflicts between race and gender in equity pursuits: either/or, hierarchical, and universal (categorical). Both/and thinking and same-sex/same-race…

Ethical teaching dilemmas generally fit four patterns: individual versus community, truth versus loyalty, short-term versus long-term, and justice versus mercy. Research discloses five core shared values: compassion, honesty, fairness, responsibility, and respect. When choosing among end-, rule-, and care-based resolution approaches, teachers'…

Middle School Math Project at Education Development Center in Newton, Massachusetts, puts industry representatives into classroom to free teachers for professional development and to show students real-life applications of science and math. Although the program is no magic bullet for achieving teacher professionalism, this innovative approach buys…

Young people who daily endure hateful words, slurs, and epithets at school often become fearful and/or enraged. No magic solution or program exists. Teachers must firmly, consistently interrupt usage of degrading language and model acceptable behaviors. Such interventions reduce escalating situations and reassure vulnerable students. (MLH)