This paper reviews "The Status of the American Public School Teacher, 1985-86," a report on a survey conducted by the National Education Association (NEA), with the aim of locating specific results or findings in that report that have implications for future research on the teaching profession. Periodic surveys of school teachers conducted by the NEA are a valuable source of trend data and baseline estimates of demographics, working conditions, and attitudes. The most important implication for future research is that the NEA surveys could be used to disaggregate trends and to present more refined estimates of change in the teaching profession. The three most important issues confronting educational policy during the next decade concern: (1) the nature and meaning of attrition; (2) the quality and qualifications of the teaching force; and (3) appropriate responses to teacher shortages at the state and local level. More refined research based on NEA teacher surveys, and complemented by both qualitative studies of teaching and school organization and longitudinal studies of career mobility, are required to address these issues. (JD)