High-quality teachers play a significant role in improving student achievement. Compensation is a critical factor in attracting and retaining skilled teachers. This publication addresses the issues of the impact of teacher compensation and the factors that influence it. The book addressees teacher compensation from an economic perspective and…

This paper describes the transformation of Idaho State University's teacher education program in response to various initiatives regarding educational change. The transformation process involved framing a standards-based preparation program. Developers created a Core Standards for Beginning Teachers that established exit outcomes for prospective…

This paper presents the process, synthesized research, and teacher training outcomes derived from a year-long process of establishing a research-based teacher education knowledge base. A broad-based committee at Pittsburg State University, Kansas, was appointed to review best practice literature, various national standards, and teacher education…

This study offers a framework for identifying areas of agreement and disagreement across eight recent teacher education reform documents. Researchers analyzed each document in relation to the reform principles proposed by the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future (NCTAF). They developed a rubric to assess whether the documents…

This collection of papers focuses on teachers' personal and professional development, showing what teachers' learning, hopes, desires, struggles, and instruction look and feel like from inside the lives of effective teachers and in their classrooms. Topics include the types of resources and experiences effective teachers use, how these resources…

This paper shows how a mid-sized teacher education institution proactively developed a performance assessment method, Teacher Work Samples (TWSs), addressing the school's efforts to use TWSs to obtain evidence of the impact of teacher performance on student learning. The paper examines challenges faced in developing and implementing TWS…

This book describes results of the work by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Section 1, "Introduction," introduces the work of the National Board and discusses educational change and teacher improvement in general. Section 2, "Standard Setting in Teaching," explains that in order to appreciate the effects…

This document provides guidelines to school districts, BOCES, and teacher training institutions regarding technology-related skills that Colorado teachers, school library media specialists and other certified staff should have in order to meet the ever changing needs of Colorado's learners. The document is the result of deliberations by a working…

This study examined the reliability and validity of a group-assessment interview procedure designed to evaluate the verbal, interpersonal, and leadership qualities of students applying to a teacher education program. The group assessment procedure involved a 90-minute session with eight students in which three dimensions of teacher behavior were…

The call for highly qualified teachers that can improve student literacy performance has led to increased attention to job-embedded approaches to professional learning. Such approaches call for intensive, on-going efforts that include coaching and feedback (National Staff Development Council, 2001; American Educational Research Association, 2005)…

This bulletin is one of a series reporting on a nationwide study "Qualification and Preparation of Teachers of Exceptional Children," which, since its inception, has been a major project of the Office of Education. This publication reports the aspects of a broader study which deals specifically with teachers of children who are blind. The…

As the largest professional organization of special educators, the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) has taken seriously its professional responsibility for defining the criteria for a competent beginning special educator. As part of this responsibility, CEC has developed and continues to update and maintain professional standards for…

This report summarizes some Austin Independent School District (AISD) parent and community involvement activities for the 2003-2004 school year.

This article examines what students report learning and how they received instruction over an eight-month period. Results indicated that students of teachers in the graduate program recalled more specific health content and participated in more interactive activities than did control teachers' students. (SM)

The American Association of School Librarians developed ICONnect to provide Internet training to students, library media specialists, and teachers. Components include gopher and Internet sites; online courses; Internet curriculum connections and listservs; grant opportunities; and KidsConnect, a question-answering service for kids. Students…