eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This report examines the demand for teachers, teacher turnover, and teacher education in Alaska. Surveys were conducted with school district personnel directors, directors of Alaska teacher education programs, teachers who exited Alaska schools in 2001, and rural and urban instructional aides. Alaska is facing teacher shortages, but these are confined to certain specializations–particularly special education and secondary math and science–and a few rural districts. Since most of Alaska’s teachers come from outside the state, the state is particularly vulnerable to the vicissitudes of the national teacher labor market. In addition, cost-of-living adjusted salaries for Alaska teachers have declined in the past decade. Surveys of exiting teachers found that rural teachers were dissatisfied with student motivation and effort and lack of support from parents. Alaska’s institutions of higher… Continue Reading →
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eric.ed.gov har udgivet: In an effort to explore significant supply and demand variables that affect the teacher labor market in the Southeast, a qualitative research study was undertaken to examine the market patterns of initial career choice, position availability, recruitment and selection, turnover, and mobility of public school teachers. An ethnographic investigation of schools or departments of education at six universities and six school systems in two southeastern states used document analysis, on-site observation, and interviewing to collect data for analysis of labor market variables. Five categories of inquiry guided the study: (1) background and contextual variables; (2) position availability, need, and turnover; (3) paths to education and teaching; (4) identification, recruitment, and selection of teachers; and (5) employment conditions and teacher alternatives. Following a review of the related literature… Continue Reading →
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eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The high levels of anxiety, apprehension, and apathy of students in college algebra courses caused the instructor to create and test a variety of math teaching techniques designed to boost student confidence and enthusiasm in the subject. Overall, this proposal covers several different techniques, which have been evaluated by both students and the instructor. The paper proposes a series of study techniques, which are covered on the first day of class and throughout the course. Armed with practical advice about approaching the algebra course, the students learn by example. The instructor uses examples, such as rules of cricket matches as a way to make the material come to life. Other suggested techniques are making chapter notes available to students, and providing example tests before final exams and… Continue Reading →
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eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Emerging research from across the nation demonstrates that school working conditions–time, teacher empowerment, school leadership, professional development, and facilities and resources–are critical to increasing student achievement and retaining teachers. The existing national data regarding working conditions impact on student achievement and teacher turnover provided a meaningful impetus for the Clark County School District of Nevada (CCSD) and its schools to conduct a survey to gather data with which to inform local working condition reform strategies. By placing the perceptions of Clark County educators at the center of school and district efforts to better recruit and retain teachers, the goal is to create a stable teaching force that allows for a high quality teacher in every classroom across the district. Analysis of the approximately 8,500 survey responses (representing… Continue Reading →
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eric.ed.gov har udgivet: In 2004-2005, North Carolina’s average teacher turnover rate was nearly 13 percent, ranging from a high of 29 percent to a low of 4 percent. Turnover among teachers in low-performing schools was substantially higher, with a low of 12 percent and a high of 57 percent. North Carolina has put strategies in place to address teacher retention but how will these strategies impact retention at low-performing schools? This research update summarizes three studies that address issues related to teacher retention. One study examined North Carolina’s use of an annual bonus to certified math, science and special education teachers working in high poverty or academically failing public secondary schools. The study found that: (1) The bonus payment was sufficient to reduce mean turnover rates of the targeted teachers… Continue Reading →
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eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This study was conducted at the request of education policymakers who participate in the Montana Rural Recruitment and Retention Task Force. Like many states, Montana is struggling to recruit and retain qualified educators, especially in certain subject areas and in more rural parts of the state. The purpose of this study is to provide information that will help the task force address these challenges. Task force members asked REL Northwest to examine the following questions: (1) What is the extent of educator shortages in the state in 2017/18? How do educator shortage patterns vary by characteristics of school systems?; (2) To what extent did educators stay in their position and school system, move to a different position within the school system, move to a different school system,… Continue Reading →
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eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Helen Ladd takes a comparative look at policies that the world’s industrialized countries are using to assure a supply of high-quality teachers. Her survey puts U.S. educational policies and practices into international perspective. Ladd begins by examining teacher salaries–an obvious, but costly, policy tool. She finds, perhaps surprisingly, that students in countries with high teacher salaries do not in general perform better on international tests than those in countries with lower salaries. Ladd does find, however, that the share of underqualified teachers in a country is closely related to salary. In high-salary countries like Germany, Japan, and Korea, for example, only 4 percent of teachers are underqualified, as against more than 10 percent in the United States, where teacher salaries, Ladd notes, are low relative to those… Continue Reading →
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eric.ed.gov har udgivet: In spring 2011, public higher education is under attack as never before. Public institutions have been targeted for drastic cuts in the past, but now the attacks are aimed at the very core of the educational enterprise and at the basic rights of college faculty and staff. This, in turn, has the potential of placing at risk the practices and policies that have arisen on campuses around the country to diversify the racial, ethnic and gender composition of the faculty corps. Diversity-related efforts do cost money, of course, and periodic budget crises can create situations in which institutions may sacrifice faculty diversity efforts on the altar of financial exigency. By undertaking a series of publications on diversity issues, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is saying that… Continue Reading →
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eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Over the last decade, policy and business leaders have come to know what parents have always known: teachers make the greatest difference to student achievement. With new statistical and analytical methods used by a wide range of researchers, evidence has been mounting that teacher quality can account for a large share of variance in student test scores. The evidence on the distribution of qualified and effective teachers is also clear–and the findings are not good. Teachers who have met the demanding standards of National Board Certification and those who have generated higher “value-added” student achievement gains are far less likely to teach economically disadvantaged and minority students. As a result, high-poverty schools are more likely to be beset with teaching vacancies in math and special education, and… Continue Reading →
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eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Federal policy directed to teaching and teachers is the subject of this review, which is organized around: (1) recruitment; (2) training; (3) accountability; (4) incentives; (5) qualifications; (6) class size reduction; (teacher working conditions; and (8) human resource management and the overall coordination of teacher policy. For each theme, the authors describe past and current federal policy; assess the evidence on policy effects and effectiveness; and conclude with an overall appraisal. Recommendations for future federal teacher policy are provided. Reported observations include: (1) lack of policy research that might supply direction to ongoing policy investments; (2) teaching presents a number of fundamental problems that policy has yet to address successfully; (3) local conditions in schools and districts play a large role in the effectiveness of federal teacher… Continue Reading →
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