When teacher salaries are discussed, two very different pictures often emerge. The first of these portrays teachers as underpaid, overworked servants of the public good. The second paints a picture of an overpaid group of civil servants who spend very little time actually working. This report looks at Michigan teacher salaries. Teacher salaries…

This report provides policymakers with detailed information on the characteristics of California's teachers. Information comes from state-collected teacher workforce data and a series of case studies conducted in schools and districts statewide in 2000 and 2001. Overall, low achieving, poor, and minority students are much more likely to have…

Special education referral decisions for emotional or behavioral problems were investigated. A survey distributed to regular education elementary school teachers examined differences in referral decisions for internalized and externalized behavior patterns. The survey also looked at teacher gender and years of teaching experience as variables…

This is a continued study of the attitudes, perceptions, and philosophies of secondary education science teachers pre-serviced in constructivist teaching methodology over their first five-years of teaching. The following trends came out on reviewing all of the data concerning the attitudes; perceptions and philosophies of five teachers in were…

This position paper discusses the magnitude of literacy problems in the United States, reviews the need for changes in teacher preparation, and provides recommendations for action. The first section of the paper addresses sources of difficulty for children who struggle with learning to read, including phoneme awareness, single word decoding, and…

This paper reports on a small exploratory study of headteachers in England in 1997. Unstructured interviews were conducted with eight teachers who had been appointed to their first headship within the previous 2 years. The general theme of each interview was to explore the changes to individual perceptions that had occurred following teachers'…

This self-help manual provides information to districts and schools wishing to investigate or implement a beginning teacher mentoring support program. The manual describes one model of mentoring, the Beginning Teacher Support Program, that was researched in Montana schools from 1992-1995. Chapter 1 introduces the purpose and organization of the…

This report reviews the situation public school districts encountered in recruiting teachers for the 1999-2000 school year. Data come from staffing surveys completed by administrators within 216 public school districts. Level of difficulty in finding teachers depended on type of teacher being sought. Elementary, social sciences, and language arts…

This study examined the relationship between preservice teachers' perceived efficacy and their beliefs about teaching and learning. Subjects were 382 preservice teachers enrolled in either an early childhood or elementary teacher preparation program. Statistical analysis of responses to a version of the Gibson and Dembo Teacher Efficacy Scale…

Drawing on data from the 1993 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty, this analysis sought to differentiate instructional faculty and staff at public two-year colleges by age (under 35 vs. 55-64) and by years of experience in the current job (under 10 years vs. 20 or more years). The report examines differences by primary teaching field,…

This book is designed to offer practical advice to beginning, as well as experienced, teachers of college courses on navigating many of the common challenges faced both in and outside the classroom. Chapters include "Getting Ready," which covers three discrete components of course design: deciding what you want students to learn, choosing…

This study surveyed undergraduates involved in micro-teaching in two settings to identify what they considered strengths and weaknesses and to ascertain degrees to which they believed these strengths and weaknesses existed. Students enrolled in 300-level methodology classes recorded strengths and weaknesses in their micro-teaching experience…

Is there a relationship between the dollar value of property behind each student in a school district and student achievement on standardized tests (or achievement in general)? This paper explains that probably due to the relationship between property taxes and school funding, there is a strong link between property value and student achievement.…

This article takes the form of a letter from a distressed elementary school teacher who has been assigned the responsibility of a science program. It is intended to sensitize science educators to what they are asking and what they are taking for granted in their expectations of elementary teachers. (JR)

Considered the problems in helping students develop reading skills with the accent on teacher responsibility and leadership. (RK)