Teacher Excellence: Improving the Conversation

Welcome to our Research Feature, in which we provide in-depth coverage of a current topic featured in the Harvard Education Letter. The Research Feature for March/April 2002 is on teacher excellence.

• "Retaining the Next Generation of Teachers: The Importance of School-Based Support" by Susan Moore Johnson and members of Harvard's Project on the Next Generation of Teachers.

• "Innovative Teachers Hindered by the "Green-Eyed Monster" by Julie M. Wood of the Harvard Graduate School of Education on the perils of professional jealousy.

• "What Teachers Know-and Don't Know-Matters" by Dennis Sparks of the National Staff Development Council.

• "Teaching Teachers to Work with Families" by Leon Lynn. A study by the Harvard Family Research Project recommends changes in how teachers are trained and certified.

• And from The Digital Classroom, "A New Culture of Teaching for the 21st Century." Stone Wiske, director of Harvard's Technology in Education program, writes about ways to maximize the benefits of technological innovation and change our thinking about teaching in K-12 schools.

Other Resources:

• Education Next
  The latest issue features a lively forum on teacher training and certification.

• Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC)
  This consortium of state education agencies, teachers' colleges, and policy organizations certifies beginning teachers and provides on-going professional development.

• Metropolitan Life Survey of the American Teacher
  Download this national survey released in 2001. Teachers and students in grades 7-12 were asked about teacher quality, school involvement, students' expectations, job satisfaction, and more.

• National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE)
  The only government-sanctioned professional accrediting body for teacher-preparation departments, schools, and colleges. Its website offers studies and other information on teacher quality and preparation.

• National Commission on Teaching & America's Future
  A "nonprofit group dedicated to improving the quality of teaching nationwide." Founded by Stanford University's Linda Darling-Hammond, with backing from the Rockefeller Foundation and Carnegie Corporation of New York. Features a number of reports and practical tools for improving teacher quality.

• National Council on Teacher Quality
  A "nonprofit information clearinghouse on teacher quality issues" funded by the Education Leaders' Council and the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation.

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