This study describes the mental images conjured up by the word "teacher" in two different cultures asks the following questions: How does the composite rating of the image of teachers compare between countries? and How are teachers rated in comparison to other occupations? Two instruments consisting of a 30-item attitude scale and a…

The Texas Examination of Current Administrators and Teachers (TECAT) is a basic literacy test that was administered to 202,000 educators in Texas in March 1986. An in-depth case study was undertaken to examine the effects of the TECAT. The 2-year project involved 10 separate data-collection studies including structured interviews with key…

Just as student centered, collaborative classrooms give students the power to direct their own learning, so too a collaborative, partnership model for the writing staff leads to empowerment and professionalism. At Western Illinois University, involving temporary instructors in the process of curriculum development not only served to boost their…

Strategies to enhance the economic stability of community colleges through high technology approaches are discussed in this paper. First, general economic problems facing higher education are identified, and the ways in which they influence community colleges are described. Next, 10 strategies to aid in the economic recovery of community colleges…

This paper explores the lack of vitality among community college mid-career faculty, arguing that this may be an even more severe problem at two-year colleges than at four-year institutions. Emphasis is placed on the role of community colleges and the institutional changes required to revitalize mid-career faculty. The problem of faculty vitality…

Veteran teachers are often discontent because of the repetitive nature of teaching. New experiences, not repetition, are necessary for growth. Previous theories of adult development include deterministic models (such as those of Freud, trait and factor psychology, and behaviorism) and the developmental theory, which reveals no evidence of adult…

A total of 1,135 senior faculty from 6 institutions of higher education responded to a questionnaire designed to determine the relationships between personal and career development for senior college faculty and the similarities and differences in satisfaction among faculty from various disciplines. Responses from the questionnaire showed that…

Strategies for promoting faculty renewal are discussed in proceedings of the 1986 National Conference on Professional and Personal Renewal for Faculty. Included is an introduction by Ronald D. Simpson, a keynote speech by John W. Gardner and an address on academic culture by Peter Seldin. Summaries of 47 papers are provided, including the…

This study sought to describe how an elementary school faculty made sense of the impending succession of its principal, and to extend Gephart's effort to develop a grounded theory of leader succession by examining an unforced succession in an organization whose members exerted little if any influence on the selection process. On the basis of…

Key results and conclusions from the first year (1986-87) of the Detroit (Michigan) Effective Schools Project are presented. The project was designed to determine how low-achieving schools in Detroit can best be helped and to ascertain factors with greatest impact on retention and achievement. Focus is on assisting selected schools designated as…

Young urban teachers assigned to rural schools in Queensland, Australia, experience difficulties in adjustment related to isolation from family, friends, and other professionals. Twelve teachers in a small remote settlement and 12 teachers in a rural school close to a suburban area completed a questionnaire exploring their relationships with their…

One of the principal problems the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has in carrying out its responsibility to educate Indian children is the high turnover rate among its teachers; a large proportion of teachers in the BIA school system leave after their first year or second year of work. Teachers at six elementary schools on the Navajo Reservation…

Meaningful stress management efforts should include analysis of both organizational and individual factors. Results of a June 1982 survey of 130 teachers in 4 Buffalo (New York) school district elementary schools indicate that feelings of organizationally based stress did not vary significantly according to such demographic variables as sex or…

Two statewide surveys of Texas public school teachers who were members of the Texas State Teachers Association were conducted in l980 and in 1982. The 1980 survey, with 291 respondents, revealed that many teachers were considering leaving teaching. Of these, almost half cited low salaries as the chief reason. The survey also revealed that holding…

Information for newly appointed heads of graduate departments of psychology is presented as background material for the 1974 Chairman's Workshop. Topics include the following: the budgetary situation, pressures for increased teaching loads, effects upon recruiting faculty, faculty morale, graduate and undergraduate student morale, the intellectual…