Linking "A Nation at Risk" (1983) with the testing fetish that followed the No Child Left Behind Act (2002), Robert Bullough explores the perceptions of the good teacher and of good schooling that dominate American public education. Arguing that while training has trumped education as the commonplace conception of teaching, the…

Understanding the early teacher pipeline, how many and what types of individuals are pursuing a teaching credential, is critically important. Unfortunately, as Dan Goldhaber and Kris Holden explain, the two national data collections that can be used to explore these areas provide incomplete and sometimes contrasting pictures about the number of…

Preservice teachers base their expectations of teaching on the cultural images that surround them. Unfortunately, these images tell an incomplete story, and preservice teachers' expectations of teaching often reflect a narrow understanding of a fantastically complex endeavor. Jeremy Delamarter explains that, to help their candidates thrive,…

Drawing on nationally representative data from the 1988 to 2018 school years, the authors provide an overview of some of the key changes in the characteristics of first-year teachers in the U.S., including racial/ethnic identity, education levels, subject area, and certification status. The data also show that new teachers have become increasingly…

As the Every Student Succeeds Act is returning authority over teacher evaluation policies back to the states, policy makers at the state level have the opportunity to revise their policies. But who will they listen to when it comes to potential reforms? The author surveyed education policy makers to determine to what degree teachers, education…

Public schools have hired over 17,000 veterans who have participated in Troops to Teachers (TTT), a federal program designed to assist those leaving careers in the military to transition into teacher careers. Despite some educators' bias against former service members, the advantages of hiring veterans as teachers are manifold. Veterans typically…

There is a pantheon of literature and popular panic pointing toward the academic ascent of girls and the decline of boys. On the contrary, the reality is different: Boys are learning and succeeding in many places. Two studies find that the places where boys excel have several common characteristics, including teachers who relate to the boys…

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…

The professional development "system" for teachers is, by all accounts, broken. Despite evidence that specific programs can improve teacher knowledge and practice and student outcomes, these programs seldom reach real teachers on a large scale. Typically, reformers address such perceptions of failure by discovering and celebrating new formats and…

In Project STAR, 11,571 students in Tennessee and their teachers were randomly assigned to different classrooms in their schools from kindergarten to 3rd grade. Researchers learned that kindergarten test scores are highly correlated with such outcomes as earnings at age 27, college attendance, home ownership, and retirement savings. Students who…

The variety of teacher preparation programs in the United States provides an opportunity to develop better ways of preparing teachers. There are three key areas in which teacher preparation must improve, including the content teachers will teach, the curriculum of practice essential for beginning teaching, and the approaches and settings best…

A study of master teachers in the arts, sports, cooking, and other fields reveals characteristics and attitudes that enable them to help their students succeed. These characteristics include a deep knowledge of their field, caring, generosity, and being self critical. Exemplary public school teachers also possess these characteristics, but they…

A national survey of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) educators examined differences of perceptions within seven identified factors: homophobia, principal support, policies of bullying language, policies of human rights, job safety, personal safety, and outness. It found that safety is best understood in two dimensions: personal…

The author was disappointed after reading Kevin St. Jarre's article entitled "Reinventing Social Studies". Rather than reinventing social studies, this article reflects the field's major problems. It recycles stereotypical views of history teachers, confuses chronology with history, and offers a one-dimensional, single-cause explanation for how…

A study of 31 high-performing teachers in low-performing urban schools found that these teachers had certain traits in common. They were strict; they taught in traditional, explicit ways; there was little time in their classrooms when instruction was not occurring; and they moved around the room helping their students. They used very few…