Kappan's editor-in-chief talks with renowned scholar Susan Moore Johnson about her extensive research into the professional lives of public school teachers. For decades, studies have shown that teaching tends to be isolating work, with few opportunities for teachers to collaborate with and learn from each other or to play meaningful roles in…

Attempts to promote collaboration among teachers conflict with a long tradition of teacher isolation. Defenders of this isolation often argue that such collaboration should be voluntary. However, because the preponderance of evidence suggests that collaboration is better than isolation, professionalism demands that all teachers be required to…

Describes a classroom-based teacher education program that helps men and women move from other occupations through a period of "risky imbalance" to meaningful new role of rural school teacher. A survivor of the 1960s, the Upper Valley Teacher Training Program is a state-approved, nonprofit, independent program using services of academics…

To attract and retain high-quality teachers, the education system must address science teachers' sense of professional isolation, administrators' lack of receptivity to thoughtful teachers' ideas, egalitarian salary compensation schemes, and lack of professional recognition. An outstanding chemistry teacher-turned-pharmaceutical saleswoman is…

Built on 15 years of proven results, IMPACT II-The Teachers Network continues to trust classroom teachers, mobilize them to support school improvement, and refine and extend the teacher leadership agenda. Basically, the network finds good teachers with good ideas, awards them small grants, and connects them with other good teachers. Program…

Examines effects of the 1990 Kentucky Education Reform Act from a caring, innovative elementary teacher's viewpoint. A court required KERA, the legislature created it, state officials regulate it, but teachers are directly responsible for working together to make reforms work. Unfortunately, the state has not provided enough direction to…

Common factors contributing to teachers' resistance include risk aversion, craft expertise, and autonomy and isolation. Leaders' problem is to create ownership, not buy-in. Principals cannot make change alone or by edict, but must nurture engagement and commitment and motivate groups to learn and solve problems cooperatively. (MLH)

Public education could be significantly improved if proponents of standards-based reform could join with critics of high-stakes testing (the "evil twin") and outlaw using such tests as sole indicators of student success. Authentic, standards-based reform is concerned with equity and quality, demands teacher collaboration, and addresses demands for…