Teacher Survey Shows Morale Is at a Low Point

"More than half of teachers expressed at least some reservation about their jobs, their highest level of dissatisfaction since 1989, the survey found."

The Value of Teachers

". . .a landmark new research paper underscores that the difference between a strong teacher and a weak teacher lasts a lifetime."

Big Study Links Good Teachers to Lasting Gain

"Elementary- and middle-school teachers who help raise their students’ standardized-test scores seem to have a wide-ranging, lasting positive effect on those students’ lives beyond academics, including lower teenage-pregnancy rates and greater college matriculation and adult earnings, according to a new study that tracked 2.5 million students over 20 years."

Teachers Can Help Abused Kids Adjust

"Abused children can return to school and do well academically if teachers can help them control their emotions, focus and stay motivated, U.S. researchers say."

The Problem With Paying Teachers Less

". . . when conservative thinkers at the American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation issued a paper on Tuesday arguing not only that teachers are overpaid, but when you factor in pensions, health care and other benefits, that total compensation for teachers is 52% higher than fair market value, it was bound to be controversial."

What Teachers Really Want to Tell Parents

"Today, new teachers remain in our profession an average of just 4.5 years, and many of them list 'issues with parents' as one of their reasons for throwing in the towel."

Students 'Stand And Deliver' For Former Teacher

"Escalante's former students recently learned he is in the end stages of bladder cancer that has spread throughout his body. The medical costs have depleted Escalante's savings, and the students are determined to help out."

Teachers Furious Over Executives' Raises

"More than 1,000 Chicago school teachers protested mere hours before the Board of Education voted to raise administrators' salaries. Teacher were informed last week that the schools do not have the funds to cover their 4 percent raises."

Helping Teachers Help Themselves

"The Montgomery County Public Schools system here has a highly regarded program for evaluating teachers, providing them extra support if they are performing poorly and getting rid of those who do not improve."

Tests for Pupils, but the Grades Go to Teachers

"New York City education officials are developing more than a dozen new standardized tests, but in a sign of the times, their main purpose will be to grade teachers, not the students who take them."

More Pupils Are Learning Online, Fueling Debate on Quality

"Nationwide, an estimated 1.03 million students at the K-12 level took an online course in 2007-8, up 47 percent from two years earlier, according to the Sloan Consortium, an advocacy group for online education. About 200,000 students attend online schools full time, often charter schools that appeal to home-schooling families, according to another report."

American Teachers Under Attack

"With state budgets buckling, American teachers are facing the erosion of tenure protection, employee benefits, and other job protections that they fought for and won years ago."

U.S. Is Urged to Raise Teachers’ Status

"To improve its public schools, the United States should raise the status of the teaching profession by recruiting more qualified candidates, training them better and paying them more, according to a new report on comparative educational systems."

For Teachers, Many Ways and Reasons to Cheat on Tests

"Teachers cheat sometimes and so do principals, according to academic studies. Why it happens and how often — and the seriousness of efforts to stop it — are open to debate. Punishment varies from state to state, too."

Why America's Teachers are Enraged

"The uprising in Madison is symptomatic of a simmering rage among the nation's teachers. They have grown angry and demoralized over the past two years as attacks on their profession escalated."

Teachers, School Leaders Gather in Denver

"The nation's education chief chastised teachers and their bosses in equal measure Tuesday as he launched what the Obama administration is touting as the first-ever national summit between union leaders and administrators."

Poll: Most Want Easier Way to Fire Bad Teachers

"The Associated Press-Stanford University poll found that 78% think it should be easier for school administrators to fire poorly performing teachers. Yet overall, the public wants to reward teachers — 57% say they are paid too little, with just 7% believing they are overpaid and most of the rest saying they're paid about right."

Gates Study Offers Teacher-Effectiveness Clues

"'Value added' gauges based on growth in student test scores and students’ perceptions of their teachers both hold promise as components of a system for identifying and promoting teacher effectiveness, according to preliminary findings from the first year of a major study."

Girls May Learn Math Anxiety From Female Teachers

"Now, a study of first- and second-graders suggests what may be part of the answer: Female elementary school teachers who are concerned about their own math skills could be passing that along to the little girls they teach."

Merit Pay Study: Teacher Bonuses Don't Raise Student Test Scores

"Offering middle-school math teachers bonuses up to $15,000 did not produce gains in student test scores, Vanderbilt University researchers reported Tuesday in what they said was the first scientifically rigorous test of merit pay."