This article reports on a statewide implementation of a corequisite model of instruction for first year writing at two- and four-year public, postsecondary institutions in Idaho. This project explores how these institutions manage political and economic mandates for educational reform while preserving educational quality for students and teaching…

There is a growing divide between ongoing and precarious academics in Australia. Precarious academics are often exploited, underpaid, and have little hope of gaining permanency. In this article we offer suggestions to ongoing academics on how to improve the working lives and conditions of precarious colleagues. Our suggestions range from easy and…

Purpose: This paper explores, from the perspective of an Australian pracademic, how school leaders are leading during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: This essay explores the tensions navigated by school leaders leading during this time of global crisis, by looking to research as well as the author's lived experience.…

The aim of this paper is to explore the identity of the teacher as a dialectical being that is in permanent construction, to identify some obstacles teachers might find in this process while operating in an institutional framework, and the effects these could have upon the teacher and the goals she pursues with her students. By ruling out the idea…

A highly competent teacher workforce is a necessary foundation for improving children's educational outcomes, especially for those who rely most on schools for their success. Yet in the United States, shortages in the teaching force have been growing across the country, reaching crisis proportions in some teaching fields--such as mathematics,…

This brief summarizes the results from a study of the recruitment, employment, and retention of minority k-12 teachers. The study examines the extent and sources of the minority teacher shortage--the low proportion of minority teachers in comparison to the increasing numbers of minority students in the school system. Using the National Center for…

Principals play key roles in creating the conditions in which teachers can teach effectively and students can learn. Principals are increasingly being held accountable both for teacher quality and for student learning and development so that young people can become 'successful learners, confident and creative individuals and active and informed…

In this article, Anthony Bryk, Heather Harding, and Sharon Greenberg report on a roundtable jointly sponsored by Teach For America and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The authors brought together a group of scholars and practitioners with a broad range of perspectives and asked them to explore several questions related to…

Currently, there is a radical shift in the manner in which teachers are expected to perform their duties because of economic, social and political forces that are impacting on education. It is not uncommon to find teachers working within rigidly defined policies; being subject to accountability mechanisms; involved with processes associated with…

Perhaps at no other time in the history of American education has there been more publicly available information about what teachers think about their profession, their students, and the conditions under which they work. As advocates pore over the results of teacher surveys being conducted nationally, at the state level, and even at individual…

To effectively address teacher turnover, Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) grantees need to follow an approach that entails aligning the tracking, diagnosing, and intervening processes. Unfortunately, too often retention strategies are implemented without regard to the various types of teacher turnover and specific data about the causes of turnover.…

In 2008-09, Colegio Ingles had a watershed year in terms of teachers learning to enhance one another's skills. Beneath a deceptively congenial surface, teachers at this Mexican preK-9th grade school were avoiding professional confrontations and rarely observed one another's classes or shared teaching solutions and innovations. That same year, the…

Current teacher accountability initiatives such as those included in the "No Child Left Behind" legislation in the United States create particular difficulties that impact deleteriously on the performance of professional educators. The quality of public education is undermined when teachers are held accountable to an external authority…

International educational benchmarks make disappointing reading for Americans, but they also indicate a way forward. PISA results show strong performance is possible. Whether in Japan, Korea, Finland or Canada, many countries display strong overall performance and show socioeconomic background doesn't determine results. Some countries show that…

The authors detail their summer long pointed discussion with the Obama Administration--via an exchange of letters and telephone conversations--over initiatives in New York and other states that tie the evaluations of teachers and principals to student performance on standardized tests. The authors assert such initiatives should await further…