This paper reports the findings of a study on pre-service teachers' background and confidence in music and visual arts education. The study involved 939 non-specialist pre-service primary teachers from five countries. Initially the paper identifies the students' perceptions of their background and confidence in relation to music and visual arts…

Teachers' views and expectations of students directly impact student learning, and unless they are challenged during the preparation period, these views are unlikely to change. This study investigated how a group of prospective teachers explained the shift in their perspectives of low-income, urban youth as a result of participating in a…

Three female tenure-track faculty members at a Hispanic-Serving Institution explored how their cultural backgrounds inform their pedagogical approaches toward equity. They drew upon Mills's (1959) and Collins's (1993) frameworks to examine how their personal biographies, local social contexts, and broader systemic institutions affect their…

This study investigated the assumption that teachers who have been community college students are more effective as teachers at the community college level than are teachers who have never attended a community college. No significant relationship was found between instructor success as measured by the level of student retention in English…

Provides a brief biography of Agnes Louise Adams, who was awarded the first Distinguished Service Medallion by the National College of Education in 1980. (RJC)

The aim of this article is to investigate the rural educators' understanding of the legislations that impact on school practice. An argument is presented that the understanding of the legal frameworks that govern school practice begins with the educators' understanding of the Bill of Rights and the South African Schools Act. The article reports on…

High quality teachers are essential to improving the teaching and learning of mathematics and science, necessitating effective professional development (PD) and learning environments for teachers. However, many PD programs for science and mathematics teachers fall short because they fail to consider teacher background, experience, knowledge,…

Provides a short summary of the life of an award-winning English teacher. (JL)

Provides a brief biography of Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, nineteenth century New England progressive educator. Describes her teaching methods, which emphasized developing analytic thinking, maintaining childrens' self-respect, and crediting childrens' innate abilities. (DHP)

The purpose of this study was to examine science assessment data as generated by the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), and through the analysis of four research variables: teaching practices, teacher background characteristics, school conditions, and student characteristics, determine their relationship to science…

The purpose of this study was to understand how culturally relevant pedagogy promotes academic success among low-income African American children. The characteristics and instructional practices of four elementary school teachers, defined as culturally responsive by their school administrators, were examined. The study explored how personal…

Background/Context: There is an extensive body of research on school and student characteristics associated with teacher career decisions that has contributed greatly to our knowledge of teacher preferences. Yet this research also has a number of limitations, including a lack of attention to the sociocultural influences on teacher careers and the…

This report concerns itself with the data that was summarized from the 1978-79 administration of the Teaching Stress Events Inventory to the teachers of the Portland (Oregon) Federation of Teachers. Background information on the Inventory itself, a summary of the demographic characteristics of the teachers surveyed, and descriptive statistics…

An analysis of the job market for teachers indicates that the average candidate's ability to find a job will be influenced by his geographic preference and his subject area specialization. Geographically, the greatest opportunity is in areas of high population concentration. Certain subjects, such as science and mathematics, have a high demand for…

Recounts how a graduate student in education struggled to write her first poem before going out to teach poetry to students. (JL)