In the recent years, teacher quality has become a top priority of our national education policy. There is empirical evidence that suggests that teacher inputs have impact on student outcomes. It is also believed that teacher dispositions are as crucial for student achievement as a teacher's pedagogical and content knowledge/skills. The National…

High school teacher Emily Sims shares her experiences co-teaching inclusive classes as a first-year teacher. She imparts practical advice for successful co-teaching relationships between the content teacher and the special education teacher, from which both students and teachers can thrive. (Contains 1 figure.)

The retention of elementary general music teachers is of primary concern to the music education community. Teachers complete four years of college with additional coursework or masters degrees to improve and enhance their teaching expertise. With increased amounts of time and money involved in the training of these music teaching professionals,…

This report reveals that about 100 Chicago schools suffer from chronically high rates of teacher turnover, losing a quarter or more of their teaching staff every year, and many of these schools serve predominantly low-income African American children. In the typical Chicago elementary school, 51 percent of the teachers working in 2002 had left…

Many students with disabilities entering the 9th grade express concern about getting lost in the larger high school environment, being picked on by older students, and having more challenging academic classes. The transition from middle-to-high school process for students with disabilities at Westminster High School in suburban Los Angeles is a…

With an inadequate supply of qualified teachers, education stakeholders continue to investigate teacher attrition issues and induction/mentoring practices to improve retention rates, especially in the critical first years of teaching. What types of support do beginning teachers value, and what do they actually receive? What types of support do…

The author discusses mentoring and training strategies that enhance adjunct faculty members' teaching effectiveness in undergraduate science laboratories and foster a sense of common enterprise within the institutional environment. These strategies include the preparation of an "Adjunct Faculty Handbook", mentoring and peer-support programs, and…

In this article, the authors discuss 4 critical components of mathematics assessment that relate to instruction: (a) teachers need to be knowledgeable about mathematical standards and align them with assessment; (b) assessment should combine formal and informal approaches to obtain a more authentic picture of students' performance and meaningfully…

This comparative study explores the experience of two first-year teachers in starkly different school systems, one in a small city on the northern plains and the other in a Midwest urban community. Using this comparative method, the authors looked at the similarities and differences of two different educational settings to collect data regarding…

Adolescents with learning disabilities are not educated in a vacuum. Successful programming for these students involves many school professionals working together to integrate their programs for the benefit of students with learning disabilities. Collaborative teaming probably can best be described as an attitude rather than a certain way of…

Can a rich problem-solving task challenge a diverse range of students? How would students across various grade levels, from elementary school to secondary school, respond to the same task? These were the questions five different teachers in different schools wanted to explore in their respective classes, ranging from first grade through ninth…

Good teachers were shying away from accepting 4th-grade positions because of the growing accountability pressures that were being unfairly brought to bear on that grade level. Highly publicized reports of the state's new battery of standardized assessments were scaring off applicants. To address the personnel needs while more fairly sharing the…

Teaching is often characterized as an isolated activity, yet opportunities for teachers to work and learn together in schools are increasing. Underlying this shift is the view that as teachers work on new practices and teaching challenges together, they will express varied perspectives, reveal different teaching styles and experiences, and…

Crafting a positive school work environment takes time and will that many educators often lack. Yet some experts say that how the principal, teachers, and staff get along is paramount to parental involvement and to cutting-edge instruction. Unfortunately, according to this author, the workplace culture in many schools is undeniably dysfunctional.…

At least 10% of students in private Christian schools are considered students with special needs. Private Christian schools vary in the degree to which they educate these students and in the approaches that they take toward educating them. This study examines whether or not private Christian Schools are allowing students with special needs access…