Education Alternatives, Inc. (EAI), a private educational company, and Dade County (Florida) Public Schools signed a 5-year contract stipulating that EAI would manage the classroom activities at the South Pointe Elementary School. The staff would implement EAI's "Tesseract Way" educational programs. The term "tesseract" comes…

This study describes a proactive approach to teacher empowerment that attended not only to public outside perspectives, but also to private internal ones. This approach is based on the concept that the power and authority which teachers exercise in the classroom can transform the teaching profession from the inside out. A committee of teachers was…

A study examined the relation between the esteem, autonomy, job satisfaction, demographic characteristics, and expressed desire of industrial education teachers to leave the teaching profession. The study population consisted of 45 full-time industrial education teachers who taught in small, medium, and large departments (15 teachers from each…

Academic freedom for precollegiate teachers in the United States is less clear than that expressed and confirmed in law and custom for college faculties. The question studied was how academic freedom is perceived in theory and practice by secondary school teachers outside of the United States. The interview schedule was modeled after schedules…

The themes of teacher autonomy, practical experience, and program rigor are manifest explicitly and implicitly throughout these papers prepared for the National Commission for Excellence in Teacher Education. Both the problems and resolution approaches presented under each theme suggest what can and must occur in teacher education to enhance the…

An insightful overview of what makes schools effective is presented. The report is based on a study of 272 schools that have been recognized by the Department of Education as exemplary, with particular focus given to the 60 private elementary schools within this group. Themes and characteristics that are frequently mentioned include strong…

Despite prestigious reports, most notably "A Nation at Risk," and fervent reform efforts, school performance is unlikely to be improved by measures failing to recognize that schools are institutions--complex organizations composed of interdependent parts, governed by well-established rules and norms, and adapted for stability. Effective…

A sample of curriculum projects representing the first generation of new curricula in Israel was analyzed, using an instrument developed to determine the implicit or explicit message regarding the teacher's role in curriculum development and use. Curriculum development in Israel is moving from a centralized approach to greater involvement of…

Reform of teacher education must be based on substantial emphasis on the liberal arts and major academic disciplines, and rigorous admission and graduation requirements. The professional curriculum must be relevant to the world of teaching and learning. Teachers are now being prepared for a world of professional practice that should not exist;…

In reviewing a study of elementary urban school teachers, the author points out how the bureaucracy of education stifles teachers' ability to develop an internalized locus of control and leads to disenchantment and alienation. Giving teachers authority to act in their areas of expertise while decentralizing the educational power structure will…

Surveys 24 Mexican primary school teachers about their perceptions of formal responsibility, informal accountability, and personal responsibility and autonomy. Presents teachers' comments on educational authorities, curriculum, parents, and extra-curricular activities. Compares Mexican teachers' perceptions to those of English and French cohorts.…

Two staff members of the first Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Summer Institute held outside the United States commented on the reasons for and the objectives of the institute, preoccupation of the participants, course types, main interests of participants, and suggestions for future institutes. (Author/LMO)

Interviews with psychiatric technicians in four different units in a state residential facility revealed similar sources of job stress (lack of control over work), but differing perceptions of coworkers' degree of supportiveness. Lower Cornwell Medical Index Scores, indicating fewer health problems, were found on the unit associated with better…

Teachers must play a central role in attempts to reform public education. Teachers are losing control over their work. They must organize, defend schools as institutions essential to maintaining a democracy, and portray themselves as transformative intellectuals who combine scholarly reflection and practice to train students to be responsible…

A comparison of teachers' professional perspectives in France and Great Britain shows that in each country the differences that exist in political, institutional, and ideological terms interact in different ways to inhibit change and reinforce a similar degree of conservatism. To fully understand national differences, comparative classroom…