A study was done of Atlanta (Georgia) public school teacher morale in May of 1990. About 40 percent of the teaching staff (1,520 teachers) voluntarily completed a 91-item questionnaire that contained subsets of questions from the Maslach Burnout Inventory and three subscales of emotional exhaustion, departmentalization, and personal…

This paper discusses a study that examined the characteristics of part-time faculty in order to gain a better understanding of their needs so that better decisions might be made in part-time faculty management. Implications for institutional researchers who plan to study part-time faculty were also examined, including the challenges of obtaining…

Focusing on the shortage of minority group teachers, the first section of this book discusses global issues related to the teacher shortage. It is pointed out that a great imbalance exists between multicultural school populations and racially homogeneous teaching staffs. Some specific solutions and suggested reforms are made for increasing the…

In 1990, a survey was conducted of all full-time humanities and social sciences faculty at eight community colleges in the Virginia Community College System (VCCS). The study collected demographic data and examined the relationship between aging (both an individual's chronological age and length of time in the system) and job satisfaction through…

The paper summarizes recruitment and retention approaches designed to assist rural school administrators in securing/holding well-prepared/qualified teachers and presents findings from a 1985 study that examined teachers' perceptions of professional preparation. Outlined recruitment approaches include paying candidate's interview and moving…

The problem of attracting and retaining qualified teachers is defined; and the complicating factors, current research, and policy options and implications are outlined in this issue brief. Complicating factors cited range from increased employment opportunities for women and minorities outside the teaching profession to difficulty in objectively…

Described in this report is a study conducted to determine whether different kinds of employer-supported child care services had differing effects on the users of these services. Data were gathered on a year's attendance and turnover rates for 891 female employees who had used employer-provided child care. Subjects were randomly selected from 39…

Research extending back into the 1890's reveals that the quality of classroom instruction depends not upon differing curricula, for example, but rather upon the attitudes and actions of teachers. Instructional effectiveness is especially important for independent schools, yet availability as well as quality of candidates has dropped markedly.…

High teacher attrition in rural Alaska is abetted by stress induced by the culturally and environmentally differing milieus of the arctic and sub-arctic. Severe climatic conditions curtail traditional activities, and confined isolated settings place strain on personal relationships and heighten irritability, anxiety, and anger, often leading to…

An administrator who has been involved in the reorganizations of five school systems to create middle schools found that the reorganization improved delivery of educational services to K-12 students. A districtwide reorganization improves teacher morale by offering an opportunity for teachers to move to a different grade organization in their…

This survey is based on interviews with a nationally representative sample of 1,208 teachers, including an oversample of minority teachers in the nation's public schools. Over 2,700 school children in grades 4 through 12 were also interviewed, allowing for a comparison of teachers' and students' perceptions. The focus of the survey is on how…

Teaching staff represent a powerful influence on program development. Therefore it is essential that their opinions be ascertained and analyzed in a school evaluation. The Teacher Opinion Inventory was developed to accomplish three goals: (1) to assess teacher opinion toward many facets of the school; (2) to provide teacher recommendations for…

A discussion is presented on the psychological and physical nature and origin of stress, changes in life stages that individuals make in response to events, and situations in life that create pressure and tension. This discussion is followed by examples of how to deal with stress through awareness of: communication skills; coping techniques, both…

Steps must be taken to upset the academic equilibrium that sustains the dearth of humanities in community college curricula. Accommodation to institutional and societal factors have forced an emphasis on practical rather than liberal arts courses, and provided for an incomplete curriculum that does not help the student meet humanistic educational…

AT THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE COUNCIL OF CHIEF STATE SCHOOL OFFICERS HELD NOVEMBER 14, 1967, IN SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO, THE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION DEFINED MAJOR FACTORS TO WHICH HE ATTRIBUTED UNREST AMONG TEACHERS IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS. THESE FACTORS INCLUDE RAPIDLY INCREASING SCHOOL ENROLLMENT, CONSEQUENT SOCIAL…