The University of Oregon has developed a coaching specialization program that allows students to train for prospective coaching assignments without obtaining a teaching certification. Background information on the status of coaching certification is offered. (DF)

Argues against the inclusion of a writing sample as part of the GED examination. (AEA)

Discusses the importance of quality in education and indicates that individual differences among students must be considered when planning the curriculum. (JOW)

Surveyed 58 Virginia mental health counselors in private practice to examine working hours, fees, and the nature of their practices. Results showed most respondents had only a part time private practice and were employed elsewhere as well. The bulk of their counseling consisted of individual and family counseling. (JAC)

This article discusses several important validation issues involved in teacher certification and presents a six-stage model for determining the job-relatedness of any screening test used for selecting or certifying teachers. This model is illustrated with examples from the research related to the National Teacher Examinations. (Author)

Recounts the efforts of a San Antonio, Texas citizen's group to deny the license of a television station, and suggests that the three-year dispute indicates a need for improved communication between station and community. (MH)

The Washington Initiative (WI) was created in 2001 as an effort to help strengthen education reform in Washington by addressing teacher quality. The major strategies of the WI were to increase the number of teachers certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and to support the leadership of these teachers in local…

This paper presents statistics which show that states in the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) area lead the nation in teachers with National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) certification. North Carolina, Florida, and South Carolina lead the nation in total number of NBPTS certified teachers. In the 2001-02 school year, 71…

The National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) is designed to recognize accomplished teachers in the profession. Validity of the national board certification hinges on a fundamental concern whether confounding factors other than teaching performance have contributed to the certification outcome. In particular, gender stereotypic…

This study investigated California teachers' attitudes about National Board certification. Data came from focus groups with and a 2001 survey of National Board certified teachers. Overall, teachers believed that the certification process made them better teachers and that it boosted their self-confidence. Most considered it excellent or good…

Within the last 5 years, policymakers and practitioners have confronted the challenge of replacing many retiring educational leaders. To address this issue, standards for educators themselves have been proposed, some modeled around those of the Interstate School Leadership Licensure Consortium (ISLLC). Attention is also turning to advanced…

This paper reports the analysis of the results from a pilot effort to create and use a battery of instruments based on INTASC principles indicators of teacher dispositions. The original conception of the battery was designed on the taxonomy of increasing levels of inference. This means that the intent to measure included multiple instruments in…

This issue brief presents an overview of the teacher shortage problem nationwide, examining incentive programs that states have developed in response. It details the serious shortcomings that can be found in these approaches, examining state-level data collected from all 50 states and the District of Columbia based on a survey administered to the…

This exploratory study extends the work done by B. Plake and others (2000) and R. Guille and others (2001) by investigating whether a negligible occasion facet would still be found when ratings for licensure and certification examinations were completed in isolation. A set of items was sent to a standard-setting committee to be reviewed at home,…

A client of American College Testing, Inc. (ACT) decided to implement a computer-based testing program to replace their paper-pencil format for professional certification. This paper reports on the results of the developed test after 1 year's use, especially as the results relate to test security issues. ACT research shows that a variable length…