This article discusses the professional development needs of beginning physical education teachers based on data extracted from the 2011-2012 Schools and Staffing Survey. The authors identified ways to enhance professional development in a manner that addresses the specific needs of both newly hired and veteran physical education teachers. They…

There are at least four ways teachers may enter a new school: directly after receiving a new degree, exiting a different career, transferring from another school or type of position in a school, or after a break from teaching. The data used in this report span 25 years, from 1987 to 2012, providing an overview of these four key sources of newly…

Previous research at the local level on informal observations of classroom teachers by school principals suggests that the frequency of informal observations has little or no effect on teachers' perceptions of school climate. This study employs School and Staffing Survey (SASS) data to examine to the extent to which these results are replicated or…

Efforts to improve the number and quality of the high school physics teaching workforce have taken several forms, including those sponsored by professional organizations. Using a series of large-scale teacher demographic data sets from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), this study sought to investigate trends in teacher quality…

This report provides a snapshot of the extent to which U.S. public school students are taught by certified and experienced teachers. The report uses two datasets available to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES): the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). SASS provides a…

This study examines the stress, burnout, satisfaction, and preventive coping skills of nearly 400 secondary teachers to determine variables contributing to these major factors influencing teachers. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) statistics were conducted that found the burnout levels between new and experienced teachers are significantly different,…

The ultimate purpose of school lies in the success and achievement of its students. Therefore, efforts must be made to continuously improve achievement for every student. What the teacher knows and can do in the classroom is the most powerful factor in increasing a student's achievement (Cunningham & Allington, 2003; Darling-Hammond, 2000;…

Shifts in the work force (both in education and more broadly) provide an opportunity to apply other creative approaches in the quest for more effective STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) teaching. Increasingly, professionals change careers and explore new and varied professional opportunities, rather than remain in a single…