Urges language arts teachers to consider and follow the statements on teacher workload issued by the National Council of Teachers of English. Suggests ways in which individual teachers can improve their profession. (JT)

Outlines how the principal can help the beginning teacher in six areas: achieving status with peers, gaining the principal's attention, becoming oriented, making a unique contribution to the school, growing personally and professionally, and associating socially with peers. (Author/JM)

Examines legal issues concerning teachers' noninstructional duties. Discusses several factors influencing court decisions that uphold reasonable assignments of noninstructional duty, including courts' reluctance to interfere with school policies. Presents five assignment guidelines for administrators eager to minimize teacher dissatisfaction and…

Intended for administrators and policymakers as well as teachers, this digest reports on the relationship between class size and writing achievement. The digest first reviews the contradictory findings of class size research, then examines results of meta-analyses of these studies, and subsequent responses. The digest then explores the…

The creation of a National Commission for the Social Studies offers an extraordinary opportunity to reconsider the mission of social studies education and move in new directions. Defining what the social studies field should be will help to answer the question of what should be taught. Questions of what children can learn in the elementary school…

A mountain of paperwork can be pared to a molehill when teachers concentrate on diagnostic and testing techniques that minimize written responses. This article explains how to evaluate students in ways that emphasize oral responses, hand signals, and student grading of papers. (PP)

Although many researchers conclude that education is a profession marked by high levels of stress or experience of "burnout," this paper contends that educators are more adaptable and hence less stressed than the literature would indicate. The paper surveys literature on educator stress, presents studies indicating low educator stress, and…

Discusses how to manipulate a database to create a spreadsheet which can be used to help decide which teaching areas are understaffed and by how much. Focuses on the use of the Lotus 1-2-3 database statistical functions. (TW)

Urges seeking different sources for obtaining funds for Soviet teacher salaries. Suggests that the state fund basic curriculum with help of national/ethnic associations, parents, and concerned organizations that fund other aspects of teachers' work. Argues that raising teachers' salaries and decreasing workload to resemble average citizen's will…

Investigates teacher perceptions of cost/benefits of permanent part-time teaching (PPTT) in Australian schools. A questionnaire gauged effects of PPTT on teachers' working conditions, the teacher employment market, school administration, and social interactions among teachers. Respondents overwhelmingly supported the introduction of PPTT in the…

The study reported on in this issue was conducted to examine teachers' workload and associated stress. The specifics of the study were: the hours teachers worked during a given week, the tasks which filled those hours, and whether teachers felt stressed during that week. Teachers in 58 primary and 32 secondary schools were asked to complete a…

Addressing rural school leaders, this article suggests solutions to six common problems regarding curriculum development in small schools: past neglect of comprehensive curriculum studies and resultant teacher apathy; teacher turnover; limited number of teachers per grade or subject area; inadequate time for curriculum work; inadequate financing;…

Provides an overview of a project designed to develop a comprehensive, state-mandated program to reduce teacher paperwork through the use of microcomputers. Describes the survey conducted prior to developing the program, a pilot test, and the implementation of an acquisition plan for hardware and software. (TW)

This paper presents an approach to the future role of public school language and speech specialists designed to make them indispensable to teachers and administrators. They should move away from the pull-out method of delivering services. Instead they should work directly with students in their classroom and consult or co-teach with regular and…

Because of a serious teacher shortage nationwide, it has become common to find many teachers teaching "out of license"--teaching courses in which they have had few or no college courses. In an attempt to address this problem, New York City has embarked on an innovative program to relicense teachers in mathematics and science to fill the…