Half of all 16,023 U.S. school districts are both small and rural. In a decade of nationwide reform, these "forgotten" school districts must fight for survival rather than substantive reform. Teachers in rural Indiana cannot rely on principals for instructional leadership nor on each other for professional enrichment. Includes four…

Important aspects of instructional design are outlined for optometry teachers, including steps in the instructional design process, writing specific behavioral objectives, and determining the appropriate setting, instructional dimensions (teacher role, level of student participation, and relevance to students' future responsibilities), and…

Presents a theoretical analysis of the nature of the relationship between job satisfacation and job tenure and performance and makes recommendations for good industrial relationship between the Nigerian government and its teacher employees. Teachers' unions should pressure teachers to be productive and government to reward productivity. (JAC)

Describes the effect of an endowment of $250,000 for improving the teaching of writing on the activities and morale on the English department faculty, as well as on the improvement of student writing skills. (EL)

Discusses problems new teachers have with the teaching profession, including the low salaries, the adversary relationship between teachers and administrators, overly large classes, and too few instructional materials. (EL)

High school teachers were surveyed to identify sources of stress and dissatisfaction that may induce teachers to leave teaching. Data on perceived role, school climate, coping resources, and specific work problems were canonically correlated to create a construct of teacher stress. Results are discussed. (Author/DF)

A foreign language teacher talks of his special first-year circumstances which ought to be the norm for every probationary teacher: many free periods, one classroom to teach in which is not used by anyone else, access to a central equipment area for all language teachers, and staff support. (CFM)

When teacher salaries are discussed, two very different pictures often emerge. The first of these portrays teachers as underpaid, overworked servants of the public good. The second paints a picture of an overpaid group of civil servants who spend very little time actually working. This report looks at Michigan teacher salaries. Teacher salaries…

A study investigated from a national perspective factors that influence the attrition and retention of newly hired secondary business teachers in the public sector. It also identified factors important to determine a business teacher's interest in continuing or not continuing in the teaching profession. The survey developed for the study consisted…

This digest discusses why special education teachers may become stressed by role overload and lack of autonomy, and presents strategies for successfully managing stresses related to teaching. Strategies include: (1) setting realistic expectations; (2) making distinctions between job and personal life; (3) finding ways to exercise professional…

This report addresses the problem of special education personnel attrition in Kansas, focusing on those personnel employed in Kansas during the 1991-92 year who did not return for the 1992-93 year. Part 1 provides 12 tables which show: attrition rates from 1977 through 1992; special education personnel attrition by category (focus year); total…

Howard Community College uses the Quality Evaluation of Service Trends (QUEST) Survey to ask its employees to evaluate themselves and each other in terms of the quality of service they render to their various constituencies each year. Results of the 1999 survey include: (1) of the 51 service areas listed, 34 improved their ratings over the last…

This document highlights some of the main problems in using temporary, adjunct, and part-time (TAP) faculty, a practice that is becoming commonplace in higher education, especially at the community college level. Institutions use TAP faculty for several reasons: economic motivation, staffing flexibility in times of fluctuating enrollments,…

This study investigated instructional aides' relationships with teachers and parents and their status in schools, using Connelly and Clandinin's (1988) epistemology of "teacher as knower" as a way to frame their voices. A total of 17 predominantly female instructional aides from five elementary schools in three midwestern U.S. school districts…

Nine issues of the newsletter of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) include articles, news items, meeting announcements, news items of individual divisions, and professional advancement opportunities. Some major articles are: (1) "Home Schooling--A Viable Alternative for Students with Special Needs" (2) "High Stakes Testing…