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…

Seeks to identify and reach consensus on criteria that can be used to assess and evaluate faculty sabbaticals. Using a sample of senior academic affairs administrators, 16 assessment criteria were identified, with recommendations made for further research and current practice. The measures included: increased scholarly output, new research…

Part-time college and university faculty account for over 40% of faculty nationwide, double the proportion two decades ago. Increasingly, these groups are becoming organized, often separately from full-time faculty. Issues include pay and workload. Some administrators express concern that part-time faculty are rushing to organize rather than…

When recruiting high-powered scholars, colleges and universities must be able to offer not only good salaries but also such benefits as light teaching loads, new research facilities, jobs for spouses, and other aspects of an attractive lifestyle. Sometimes such job offers are used as leverage for increasing benefits at home institutions. (MSE)

A study proposed a structural model of college faculty worklife and tested its generalizability by examining possible differences in the model across three cross-sectional samples of probationary faculty at a major research university over an eight-year period. Identified trends in faculty perceptions about their worklife over time can be used as…

The report of the American Association of University Professors' Committee C on College and University Teaching, Research, and Publication extends discussion of faculty workload issues by examining external attempts to legislate and regulate the way in which faculty in public higher education institutions distribute their work. Focus is on…

Current university tenure and promotion criteria are examined critically, and it is suggested that they are both an effect and a source of gender bias. Current working assumptions regarding what constitutes good research, teaching, and service and the relative importance of each reflect and perpetuate masculine values and practices, preventing…

Practical schooling realities defy grand designs for change, including imposing tougher standards. Standards will not work because U.S. schools are complex systems; educators do not understand, accept, or "enforce" state standards; teachers have too many kids and not enough time; student problems predominate; and publicly embarrassing educators is…

Discusses policy making in United Kingdom higher education that tries to balance expansion with maintaining high standards. Considers computer-assisted assessment as a method for coping with large class sizes while also providing meaningful feedback to students without dominating staff time. (Author/LRW)

Given the prevalence of women faculty entering the profession, many of childbearing age, it is important to understand how women juggle the often-conflicting demands of children and tenure. Interviews with 29 faculty from research universities find them reporting joy in their professional and personal roles, the "greedy" nature of academic and…

John Merrow, president of Learning Matters, Inc., has been reporting on K-12 education since 1974, but only recently has he begun to draw attention to higher education. This award-winning broadcaster is shedding light on the underbelly of higher education--and is arguing that something must be done before it's too late. This article presents the…

This report provides a national overview of patterns of tenure in higher education based on data from the 1993 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF:93). This study included information on nearly 900,000 faculty members of whom 595,340 were full-time. All faculty appointments were included regardless of whether faculty members actually…

In October 1994, the Organization of American Historians (OAH) conducted a survey of community college history faculty to develop a coherent description of the historians and their institutions, history programs at community colleges, and faculty responsibilities. Completed surveys were received from 512 faculty members representing 264…

An increasing number of children face deteriorating family bonds, out-of-wedlock births, lack of shelter, pregnancy, abortion, and drug or alcohol related crimes. When schools fail to address the immediate family and social needs of students, learning for these students becomes difficult and relatively unimportant. This study promotes the…

This report addresses the issue of "academic productivity," and the critical views of academia held by the public. The section titled "Quality Academics, Quality Productivity," posits that using new notions of productivity, with their emphasis on quality rather than quantity, will allow academia to increase its own…