There is a cultural mismatch between teachers and students in classrooms across the U.S. that, despite teachers' best intentions, too often leads to student harm. Mentors are uniquely positioned to interrupt conscious and unconscious bias that leads to inequitable practices but often have difficulty holding the necessary hard conversations. Among…

Educators can prevent much of the sexual misconduct in schools if they know how to recognize and respond to suspicious patterns and if administrators enforce an environment of high expectations for behavior. School districts can assess their schools and the district for being at risk of educator sexual misconduct and then can develop and enforce…

In praise of isolation: Who says professional learning communities (PLCs) are a better way? The author says the PLC trend is but the latest education fad that is not helping teachers or students. PLCs, says the author, represents an administrative, clinical ideal of collaboration. He blames legions of high-paid consultants, and says that all along…

In 2007, New York City schools commenced a school-level pay-for-performance program for teachers and staff in about 200 schools. The authors found that the program didn't improve schools or student outcomes. Why? Because the program failed to create conditions that theory suggests are necessary for performance-based incentive programs to change…

Teacher networks are an important lever for helping schools make change. In order to take advantage of teacher networks, principals must map the existing networks in their schools, identifying teachers and others who serve as experts or advice givers, brokers, and advice seekers. Once these are known, principals can decide on a strategy for…

Social networking sites are interactive websites designed to build online communities for individuals who have something in common--an interest in a hobby, a topic, or an organization--and a simple desire to communicate across physical boundaries with other interested people. These sites are not unlike the old-fashioned "party line" telephones,…

School administrators have some tough hiring decisions to make, and an interview to select the most highly qualified applicants is critically important. Even before the mandates of No Child Left Behind, school administrators strove to hire the best new teachers. Competent, caring, qualified teachers are the keys to enhanced student achievement.…

A humorous look at how to break children of drinking and taking dope by repulsing them. (IRT)

Argues that teachers must break the pervasive communities of silence about race in primary school classrooms and thus become moral communities. Includes list of books teachers can read aloud with children to stimulate classroom discussions of race. Also includes selected list of references for teachers. (PKP)

Homosexual teachers do not influence children toward homosexuality nor do they proselytize. Teachers should be judged on their effectiveness in the classroom, not by their sexual preference. (Author/IRT)

The courts are likely to protect teachers whose nonconventional behaviors are practiced with discretion. The delicate balance between the private rights of teachers and the interests of school officials in protecting the integrity of the educational process is summed up in the teacher's duty to privacy. (Author/IRT)

The contradictory roles teachers fulfill can be divided into two categories. One, the executive, is essentially supervisory, directive, and critical. The other, counselor, is essentially supportive, advisory, and oriented toward the pursuit of knowledge. (Author)

The author's ten commandments are intended to provide teachers with significant general guidelines for use in the classroom. The areas covered include worship in the classroom, academic freedom, corporal punishment, slander and libel, and student safety. (IRT)

That the high school social norms and the psychological egocentrism of the teacher are the major causal factors in a no-growth curriculum is a reasonable assumption. (Author)