Discusses the self-perceived efficacy of high school teachers. Offers survey results suggesting that teachers tend to feel most efficacious when teaching high track students, particularly in the areas of mathematics and science. Explores the relevance of teacher preparation, grade level, teacher influence upon working conditions, and degree of…

A "Money" survey of U.S. public and private schools shows that private schools may not be worth the expense. Students attending the best public schools outperform most private school students. The average public school teacher has stronger academic qualifications than the average private school teacher. The best public schools have a more…

The Improving America's School Act funds numerous small programs that dissipate its purpose and increase its vulnerability. Congress is debating extension of federal roles into areas such as social promotion, parental rights, reading programs, class-size reduction, and national voluntary tests. Changing budget rules pits education against military…

A school board member-turned-English teacher shares several insights: teaching is exhausting work; class size matters; teachers are isolated; teachers often misunderstand board actions; administrative filters distort what boards and teachers are really saying; adopting one-sided, radical change is foolhardy; and teachers are professionals…

Considers how to reform on-campus teaching of large classes by using and adapting distance education methods relying mainly on technology and educational media. Topics include student access to media; skill development needed by students and teachers to use the new technology; and cost effectiveness. (Author/LRW)

Outlines the course development of an introductory large-scale distance education course offered via the World Wide Web at the Open University in the United Kingdom. Topics include developing appropriate student skills; maintaining quality control; facilitating easy updating of material; ensuring student interaction; and making materials…

Discusses research (Tennessee Study of Class Size) that determined the effects of smaller class size in the earliest grades on short- and long-term pupil performance. The 4-year study assessed the performance of over 6,500 students who attended K-3 classrooms having differing numbers of students and found evidence of short- and long-term benefits…

Reports assessment of the first-year results of several new kindergarten initiatives in Montgomery County Public Schools. Finds that students attending full-day, reduced class-size kindergarten programs had significant gains in the acquisition of foundational reading skills. Programs also reduced reading-skills gap between high-risk student…

Elementary school principals who received a Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) award in January or August 2002 (n = 21) were invited to be interviewed in the late spring and summer of 2003. A total of 19 principals consented to audiotaped interviews. The interviews focused on several CSR dimensions, including principals' beliefs about the extent to…

The good news is that the achievement gaps between racial and ethnic groups in the U.S. are smaller than they were several decades ago. The bad news is that progress stopped around 1990. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) continues to show large differences between the average scores of blacks and Hispanics on the one hand and…

This article discusses what a Tennessee experiment tells about merit pay. Though the dramatic effects that teachers have on student achievement are indisputable, the exact ingredients of effective teaching are anything but settled. Questions about how to value experience, education, certification, and pedagogical skills---the big four of teacher…

This study investigated issues that impact attrition, migration and retention of special education teachers in Alabama. The sample comprised 70 teachers designated as "highly-qualified" who responded to a job satisfaction instrument, with a focus on retention issues, developed by Levine (2001). The results indicated that the major…

The study explored the effects of two kindergarten program organization factors--length of school day and class size--on kindergartners' reading, math and general knowledge achievement at the end of the kindergarten year. Two waves of data were drawn from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K) with an…

I use examples from my ethnographic work on early childhood education and care settings in Japan and France to demonstrate that quality standards are cultural constructs and to question the universality of such core U.S. standards of quality in ECEC as low student-teacher ratios and multicultural curricula. My argument is that quality standards…

A survey of 1,042 special educators found that disability severity and number of students served in the classroom were the variables that most affected caseloads in special education. Educators spent most of their time instructing, but also spent time doing behavior management, case management, and individualized education program development.…