This qualitative research report focuses on the phenomenon of teacher burnout at the junior high school level. Three teachers were interviewed as to the role teacher burnout played in their professional and personal lives. A jury of peers reviewed the transcriptions of these interviews and categorized interview data into five categories: How was…

Despite the fact that Paterson has a high level of documented need, the city is below the State and Passaic County averages for professional staff per 1000 weighted pupils and per pupil expenditures for instructional materials. Teacher salaries are among the lowest in the State and teacher morale is reputed to be low. Even after two years of…

An investigation of the status, attitudes, and morale of the teaching profession in New South Wales was used to gauge the climate of opinion among teachers and to elucidate the factors that may have been responsible for the increased rate of teacher resignations and job dissatisfaction. The methodology took the form of a mail questionnaire to…

Loyal policy support depends not only on an employee's knowledge of the form and structure of the institution, but also on his ability to influence its operations and goals. If there is ample opportunity for an employee to present his ideas and these ideas are put into action, he is more apt to feel like an integral participant in the district.…

Reports on a nationwide survey of the teaching profession that compares personal profiles and salaries of public school teachers and 4-year college graduates employed year round. Discusses issues of supply and demand, motivation and morale, job satisfaction, and teacher training. Six charts are included. (IW)

Develops a model of teacher adjustment to being reassigned to new content areas that is based on four assumptions: change is a process, it is made first by individuals and then by institutions, it is highly personal, and it entails developmental growth in feelings and skills. Suggests ways to help reassigned teachers adjust. (MM)

Project Discovery II was based on a previous highly successful Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) project called Project Discovery. Teams of high school teachers and college faculty in the project planned and implemented an integrated, discovery based curriculum with groups of block-programmed students in New York City…

The 1998 General Assembly directed the Council of Higher Education to study policies regarding the use of adjunct faculty at Virginia's colleges and universities. The study aimed to examine course loads and benefits and how these issues relate to faculty with joint appointments at several public institutions. Virginia's public higher education…

Essays argue that (1) unions can translate professional concerns into action; (2) unions need to concentrate more on the professional concern of improving education; and (3) only a national teachers union has the membership, staff, and strength to deal effectively with the multitude of concerns facing contemporary education. (MM)

Explores the relationship among teachers' cognitive styles, their preference of leadership styles, and their susceptibility to stress. Data from the self-reports of elementary teachers suggest that nonanalytic teachers prefer principals who stress process rather than task and appear less susceptible to occupational stress than the more analytic…

King's College (Pennsylvania) has redesigned its faculty reward system, mixing intrinsic and extrinsic incentives in three interrelated institutional initiatives related to general educational reform, senior faculty performance appraisal, and merit pay. An early result of the effort is a perceptible improvement in faculty motivation and…

Three studies involving 79 teacher leaders, 4 school empowerment experts, and 387 secondary school teachers indicate that the 38-item School Participant Empowerment Scale (SPES) may tap 6 dimensions of empowerment within the school organization identified in the literature. The SPES effectively measures perceived empowerment in school settings.…

Discusses problem of socialization to school environment. Explains that the process can have a negative impact on teachers' attitudes toward social studies teaching and can result in noncreative teaching. Recommends methods for retaining the ideals learned in education courses. Suggests doing things in manageable steps, reserving time for…

A model of influences affecting early career teachers' job satisfaction was developed and tested. The path model, tested with 250 Black and 262 White teachers, indicated that influences leading to satisfaction differ across racial groups; and sexual differences should be considered in teacher induction and training. (TJH)

Reviews five dimensions (focus, scope, structure, process, and capacity) of an organizational design used by 20 New York districts planning for site-based management (SBM) implementation. The confusion surrounding devolution of decision making hinders districts' efforts to effect changes in intermediate variables (job satisfaction and staff…