If school choice options take place in school systems across the country, challenging opportunities may exist for the teaching profession. Analyzes the development of school choice plans by teachers and examines the impact of this process on the professionalization of teachers. Describes gains in teacher involvement, decision making, and autonomy.…

A survey of 300 college faculty across disciplines suggested that many faculty encounter conditions that hinder collegiality concerning undergraduate teaching issues. These difficulties include faculty isolation and fragmented communication, constrained resources, and inappropriate evaluation and reward systems. Results also suggest ways in which…

The problem with standardized testing is that it is standardized. Different learners learn differently, different teachers teach differently, and different teacher-learner combinations work differently at different times and in different ways. Standardized tests must be abandoned in favor of methods of creative evaluation that address the needs of…

A classroom teacher asked two colleagues in his district to keep a daily record of their aims, methods, materials, and great discussions in two courses each: one state-tested, the other an untested elective course with no state curriculum. Each week during the study, the teacher reviewed these logs with his colleagues in separate interviews. Data…

The National Primary Strategy (DfES, 2004) is encouraging schools to design "broad and rich curricula" which make the most of links between different areas, building on literacy and numeracy and developing speaking and listening skills. Primary teachers' confidence with, and understanding of, science will be crucial to the effectiveness…

The winds of decentralizing reform that have been driving their way through various government education systems across the globe over the best part of two decades have generated a great deal of conflict. In the late 1990s those working in the Western Australian government high school in which I conducted the research reported here found…

Is academic freedom an issue in British universities? It should be because there is no legal protection guaranteeing academic freedom. Individuals have some direct statutory references but nothing of substance that actually provides a definitive statement. There are a variety of statutory provisions dealing with what may appear to be aspects of…

As an increasing number of schools undertake restructuring efforts, an instrument to measure teacher empowerment would be a useful took for researchers and evaluators. Such an instrument was used in a census survey of 10,544 teachers in 307 Venture Capital Schools in Ohio to obtain baseline measures of classroom teachers' participation in school…

Educational supervision has historically sought to improve the quality of teaching. This book is a text for undergraduate and graduate students who are engaged in the study of issues in educational supervision; it is a compendium of informed commentaries on current issues written by prominent scholars in the field. The first part (12 chapters)…

The Chicago (Illinois) School Reform Act was signed into law in 1988 and the Reform School Board of Trustees was appointed in July 1995. There have been several reports of teachers' opinions about the Reform Act, but the opinions of teachers about the Reform School Board have not been studied. Almost half of teachers have reported at least some…

This report examines the status of elementary and secondary teaching as a profession in the United States. The primary data source is the 1990-91 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics. The sample used contains data from 11,589 schools. This report assesses levels of teacher professionalization…

Empowering teacher induction programs are developmental in nature and generally have similar philosophical orientations. They identify and meet the instructional, non-instructional, and empowerment needs of novice teachers. Induction programs that empower include the following elements: development of personal strengths and ideas; defined…

Teachers need flexibility to adapt to the uncertain situations and unique needs they confront in their classrooms. Most efforts to reform public education address the needs of teachers at the expense of administration--and vice versa--reinforcing the tangled relationships and patterns of compromise and conflict they are meant to solve. This book…

This two-volume set contains a total of 67 essays on the subject of international higher education. The essays present up-to-date, statistical, and other factual information about the topic, as well as interpretations of those facts and figures. Fifty-two essays focusing on countries or regions are included. Volume 1 contains 15 chapters that deal…

This paper examines teachers' attitudes toward issues central to the establishment and functioning of professional development schools in Jefferson County, Kentucky. These issues are teacher effectiveness and teacher empowerment. Like the professional development school concept itself, the research reported is collaborative. Both quantitative and…