This document is a study on the attendance patterns of community college transfer students prior to their matriculation at The University of Memphis (Tennessee). The study focuses on three topics: (1) the percentage of community college students who transfer with associate degrees; (2) the students' patterns of institutional attendance, both…

Every semester about 3,800 Santa Barbara City College (SBCC) (California) students indicate a desire to transfer to the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB). However, for the academic years 1998-2000, less than 450 SBCC students successfully transferred to UCSB. This study examines three consecutive SBCC cohorts' traits and performance…

This guide is intended to help education leaders deal with the problem of teacher shortages. It is designed to help community leaders and school officials think strategically about the problems they face with regard to the supply of teachers and help them develop an action plan to address those challenges. The first section provides a conceptual…

Many states are struggling to finance under-funded teacher pension systems as well as recruit and retain a high-quality teaching workforce. This paper compares Maryland's former (prior to Spring, 2006) teacher pension system to those in Pennsylvania and several other states. On the basis of simple replacement rates, the former Maryland state plan…

Urban school superintendents hold one of the most important and challenging jobs in America's education system. The Council of the Great City Schools (GCS) represents the majority of large urban school districts in the country. Though there are approximately 17 thousand school districts in the country, the Council's 65 districts serve…

For many "hard-to-staff" schools, the negative consequences of teacher shortages are compounded by characteristics that make these schools less attractive to teachers. Most often located in troubled inner cities or isolated rural areas, these schools are frequently plagued by high poverty in the community, higher teacher turnover rates,…

Emerging research from across the nation demonstrates that school working conditions--time, teacher empowerment, school leadership, professional development, and facilities and resources--are critical to increasing student achievement and retaining teachers. The existing national data regarding working conditions impact on student achievement and…

Student diversity is significantly different than diversity in the teaching staff. Educational leaders must identify methods to bridge the gap in teacher diversity so that students of all backgrounds see adult role models and images of themselves in the classroom. Recruiting, developing, and retaining qualified minority teachers is an important…

A project to develop an interdisciplinary course (ARSC 10/11) for teaching science to college students not majoring in science is described. Concept modules were developed for a two-semester format consisting of three hours of lecture and two hours of laboratory per week. Important science themes were identified to promote an understanding of…

This paper describes conditions and circumstances in students' family, peer, and school worlds which students perceive as creating pressures and stress powerful enough to divert their attention and interest from school. Rather than assuming that minority status, linguistic differences, part-time employment, peers and/or poverty necessarily create…

The reasons that students in the United Kingdom fail to complete General National Vocational Qualifications (GNVQ) courses were examined through a study that involved four key elements: questionnaire survey of 3,391 students enrolled in GNVQ courses in further education colleges and schools; questionnaire survey of 782 centers providing GNVQs;…

This paper discusses the outcomes of a meta-analysis that reviewed primary studies from eight major databases to investigate the impact of role ambiguity and conflict in the burnout of special education teachers. Five role constructs were found to be present in the literature on burnout among special educators: role ambiguity, role conflict, role…

Significant attrition, high stress levels, and burnout in education indicate that organizational cultures may not provide adequate support for educator resiliency. Teacher retention in a time of teacher shortages is very important. Resiliency development must become a major goal of preservice programs. Resiliency attributes include competence,…

The first phase of a persistence study used research as a tool to develop advice for practitioners on how to help adults persist in their studies. The study team defined persistence as adults who stay in programs for as long as they can, engage in self-directed study when they must drop out of their programs, and return to programs as soon as the…

This report describes the design of the Literacy in Libraries Across America (LILAA) persistence study, the strategies that participating libraries are using to increase student persistence, and emerging implementation issues. It describes existing patterns in student persistence, identifies factors that support or inhibit persistence, and begins…