This paper describes a practicum designed to increase the stress management skills of 10 special educators working in a juvenile detention center. Teachers at the juvenile detention center were taking an inordinate amount of sick leave and engaging in behaviors that were counter-productive to their delivery of educational services to detained…

An important issue in the education reform debate is the effect of comparatively low salaries on teacher quality. Prose literacy scores are one of the best available measures of verbal ability, a factor identified by research as being associated with teacher quality. If teachers have lower prose literacy scores relative to college graduates in…

The objective of this study of teachers located in the Northwestern United States was to examine their reasons for considering leaving the teaching ranks. The research analyzed teacher perceptions in order to achieve a clearer understanding of the realities of the work place and how they affect a teacher's decision to leave. The findings reported…

This indicator of the month summarizes data from the National Center for Education Statistics School and Staffing Survey, 1993-94 (Teacher Questionnaire) regarding teacher participation in professional development (including seminars offered by schools or school districts and courses affiliated with institutions of higher education). Some findings…

This report presents national data on teachers and teaching from the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) and other sources. Where data permit, the report compares findings from the early to mid-1990s with findings from the 1980s. The report addresses a wide range of topics related to teachers and teaching, including teachers' demographic…

This book presents letters, a personal narrative, and a diary relating the experiences of nine women teachers who traveled from the East to teach on western frontiers before the Civil War. During 1846-56, the National Popular Education Board recruited 600 experienced teachers from New England and New York State; trained them in Hartford,…

This survey sought to determine workload and stress levels of college teaching staff represented by the Association of Staff in Tertiary Education (ASTE) of New Zealand. The survey examined issues related to workload and stress including: perceptions of workload, sources of stress, work responsibilities/roles, quality of work areas, student…

The two articles in this issue of "Network" report on the comments of speakers and participants in the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL) 1992 Networkshop. "Systemic Reform: Teachers and the Conditions of Teaching," discusses: the evolution and definition of systemic reform; systemic reform in relation to systems involving federal…

Having completed a study on the causes of stress affecting teacher education students during practice teaching, some members of the team who conducted the project wanted to ensure that the findings made some difference to the lives of students. Therefore, an action research approach was adopted to develop strategies aimed at lessening the stress…

To date there has been no research done on teacher education programs that use whole language as a vehicle for instilling reflective forms of pedagogy. This study is an initial effort to develop a research base in this area. The study examined the socialization process of teachers who adopted the teaching perspectives of the whole language…

This paper addresses the major issues beginning teachers face in their first postings to rural areas in Australia. The issues go beyond pedagogy. Beginning teachers need to understand social factors affecting rural communities so they can link lessons to the realities experienced by students. Geographic isolation affects the provision of education…

This report explores what state boards of education can do to enhance the performance of classroom teachers, and it looks at those areas within the teaching profession that are ripe for improvement. The document focuses on four main areas upon which state boards of education have direct impact: (1) revamping policies and regulations for teacher…

This paper reports on a study designed to identify the relationships among the context variables of sense of efficacy, teacher empowerment, and school climate as perceived by 1,802 Kansas City (Missouri) teachers. Factors related to teacher sense of efficacy (teaching efficacy and personal efficacy), to teacher empowerment, defined as the…

In the spirit of educational reform, the purpose of this paper is to review the literature and present six empirically derived dimensions underlying the construct of teacher empowerment. The dimensions were obtained from a study conducted on school empowerment in nine school districts across the country from 1989 to 1992. Empowerment has been…

In 1986, a study was conducted of the level of job satisfaction among full-time faculty in the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD). Questionnaires were distributed to 1,000 randomly selected full-time faculty in the nine colleges in the LACCD. A total of 439 surveys were returned, for a 43.9% response rate. Study findings included the…