This report presents information from the February 1997 Select Seminar on Excellence in Education. The Select Seminars have been held since 1985 as a form of professional development, offering a forum for educators to consider major issues and make written recommendations to improve the quality of education. Participants in the 1997 Seminar were…

A new national research consortium, the Center for the Study of Teaching and Policy (CTP), is designed to investigate the relation between excellent teaching and policymaking at the national, state, and local levels. Policy efforts to produce excellence in teaching must: (1) attract, recruit, and retain capable teachers; (2) develop teachers'…

This report highlights the status and working conditions of faculty in American community colleges, and compares their responses to survey questions with those of faculty at research universities, doctoral universities, masters colleges and universities, and baccalaureate colleges. The report is organized around defining themes of academic life.…

This study, begun in October 1987, was conducted to explore the effect of particular contexts of schooling on educational outcomes and to provide a comprehensive look at what and how context conditions affect teaching and learning. The study design integrates 3 years of field research in 16 public and private high schools in 2 states and analyses…

Findings of a study that examined the implementation of a teacher incentives initiative in four countries--Haiti, Liberia, Somalia, and Yemen--are presented in this paper. The countries are participating in a 10-year initiative founded in 1984, Improving the Efficiency of Educational Systems (IEES). Methodology involved interviews with…

Findings of a study that examined teachers' personal reasons for resigning are presented in this paper, which develops a model of teacher persistence. Interviews were conducted with 57 teachers who resigned from primary schools, and various regional and Head Office positions with the New Wales (Australia) Department of School Education during the…

In the wake of administrative reforms, curriculum revisions, and assessment requirements introduced in New Zealand in the late 1980s that increased workloads and stress for teachers, a survey studied the roles and workloads of primary school teachers. How workloads have changed, and how resulting pressures affected teachers' professional work,…

This paper describes the experience of an educational psychologist who completed a Fulbright Lectureship at Moscow State Pedagogical University in Russia during April and May of 1993. The chaotic situation brought about by the dramatic and rapid changes that have taken place since the collapse of the Soviet Union has resulted in hyperinflation,…

Kentucky's college and university composition programs have begun to deal with the issues of equity and quality for graduate teaching assistants and part-time faculty. Survey questionnaires were sent to writing program administrators at 40 of the Commonwealth's public and private institutions. Results indicated that composition and rhetoric…

Educational researchers have begun exploring teachers' beliefs and construction of knowledge through their use of metaphors. In this study, undergraduate (N=104) and graduate (N=102) education students were asked to respond to open-ended statements concerning what teachers, students, and classrooms were like. The subjects also responded to lists…

Descriptive data about teachers in America were analyzed in terms of the international dimension of education and the social context in which schools operate. Characteristics of teachers, such as age, gender, race, experience, education, and the conditions under which they work, provided a profile of the "typical" teacher. The model…

A survey questionnaire, designed to explore the extent of job dissatisfaction among female elementary school teachers, elicited responses from 255 subjects with varying demographic and socioeconomic backgrounds from different parts of the country. Questionnaire items focused upon: (1) personal background; (2) job expectations; (3) satisfaction;…

The importance of appropriate compensation and employment security for college faculty is discussed, in light of the declining purchasing power and wages for teachers and the erosion of benefits and pension prospects. From 1970 to 1985, the national average faculty salary, adjusted for inflation, fell 15.1%. Regardless of personal commitments and…

The academic qualifications, experience, and productivity of nontenure-track and tenured/tenure-track full-time and part-time faculty at a state university are compared, based on the results of a 1985 study. Recommendations concerning working conditions and policy for nontenure-track faculty are also offered. Findings include: almost 87% of…

This report is intended to stimulate discussion among and within the 18 countries comprising the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) about recent, current and future changes in the role and functions of their universities. Of particular concern are difficulties associated with preparing, legislating, and implementing…