The introduction of site-based management has had an impact on the operation of school systems in Tennessee; however no one seems to know for certain what that impact was. Findings from this study revealed that there is a basic understanding of the impact of site-based management as perceived by superintendents, board chairpersons, principals, personnel, budget, curriculum, and staff development administrators. Findings also revealed that central office staff and principals, for the most part, perceive that the superintendents and board chairpersons were supportive of site-based management programs. One hundred and eighty-one educators, including board chairpersons, responded to a fifty-four item questionnaire. This questionnaire focused on the following areas: impact, roles, system-wide policies, personnel, relationships, staff development, morale, position authority, curriculum, policy making, budget and support. Using the F-test for analysis of variance, it was determined that significant differences in perceptions existed in the area of understanding the impact, sharing decisions at the school site, boards of education relinquishing policy making authority to the school site, and principals and faculties having control of the curriculum. The remaining eight (roles, system-wide policies, personnel, staff development, morale, position authority, budget, support) had no significant differences in the perceptions of the respondents. Conclusions of the study emphasize that in order for site-based management programs to be successful there must be a dramatic change in the traditional administrative role. Recommendations were extensive training, retraining, and education be provided so that all school and central office personnel and community members understand and have a sense of ownership of site-based management.

The problem of this study was to identify a validated model of professional development centers (PDCs) for teacher education that could be applied collaboratively by administrators in higher education and the local school systems. A thorough investigation failed to reveal a model. Therefore, a professional development center model was synthesized from the literature, attributes of existing centers, and ideas of East Tennessee educators who were in positions to implement such a model. The examination of centers incorporated both quantitative and qualitative research methodology. The quantitative investigation was a combination of inductive and deductive analysis of responses to a survey form on PDCs that was developed by the investigator. Four centers were visited for the gathering of qualitative data in a naturalistic inquiry. Some quantitative data analyses were conducted by using the univariate method which included frequency counts and simple retrievals. Analyses provided descriptive statistics and percentages of characteristics of each PDC. The quantitative data analyses were synthesized with the qualitative data analyses for a comprehensive theoretical model. The model had ecological and face validity according to local educators and experts on the topic of PDCs. The findings were that PDCs had common goals and utilized a collaborative approach to problem solving and goal attainment among various levels including the school, the local education agency (LEA) level, the institution of higher education (IHE) level, and the state level. PDCs improved communication, trust, and support among teachers within and between schools, administrators, IHE faculty, and the community. PDCs promoted changes in both the IHE and LEA. The results of this study should prove useful to educational institutions in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of PDCs. Professional development centers provide structure for reform in teacher education.

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the nature of the activities, processes, and structures used to link a teacher evaluation program to professional growth and motivation. A total of 52 teachers in the Johnson City School System, who were scheduled for evaluation during the 1994-95 school year, were selected by both random and purposeful sampling techniques to participate. Data were collected through both quantitative and qualitative methods. Principals of the nine schools involved also participated in the naturalistic inquiry component of the study. Data were analyzed both deductively and inductively. The analysis revealed attitudes, behaviors, and perceptions of those involved in the implementation of a growth-oriented approach to teacher evaluation. What were the reasons for the success or failure of the program? Through data analysis the investigator identified 12 critical elements within four major categories that influence the linking of teacher evaluation, professional growth, and motivation. The four major categories are: characteristics of the culture, characteristics of the administrator, characteristics of the teacher, and characteristics of the process. The 12 critical elements were identified as follows: a trusting environment; collaborative relationships; high expectations of growth; administrators who are facilitators or coaches and resource providers; teachers who are mature, responsible, and self-directed; and a continuous process that is individualized, formative, and structured. Based on the findings, the following recommendations were suggested: (1) assess the culture of the school before implementing the Professional Teacher Evaluation Model, (2) provide training for teachers and administrators, (3) allow teachers to choose professional growth options, (4) identify teachers' level of readiness for self-directive learning, (5) emphasize importance of the principal's role, (6) ensure presence of the 12 critical elements identified, and (7) implement the Professional Teacher Evaluation Model as the professional growth option of the proposed Tennessee State Model for Local Evaluation.

The purpose of this study was to describe the moral purposes of successful teachers. Moral purpose was defined as the values and beliefs associated with serving society and serving individuals other than oneself Key informant interviews were conducted with the 18 finalists for Tennessee Teacher of the Year. Interviewees, were asked four basic questions: (1) Why did you choose teaching as a career? (2) How would you describe your moral purpose in teaching? (3) Has your moral purpose changed over time? (4) How would you describe the teacher's role in society? Data were analyzed qualitatively. Detailed profiles of each of the informants and reports of each interview are included. Conclusions were generally consistent with the literature. Teachers expressed several reasons for entering the profession: (1) working with people; (2) serving society; (3) continuing successful school experiences; and (4) desiring to emulate a significant teacher. Teachers described their moral purposes as related to caring, community awareness, lifelong learning, efficacy, and ethics. The teacher's role in society was described in similar terms. Several other important conclusions are described. First, these successful teachers had a sense of destiny with regard to entering the profession. This sense of destiny demonstrated the degree to which these successful teachers value the profession. Second, they described the importance of teachers serving others as role models. Third, most of the teachers suggested that their moral purposes have not changed very much over time even though students and methodologies have changed. Finally, they described community service as an important activity of the successful teacher. Again, these findings were consistent with the literature describing the dispositions of effective teachers. Recommendations for further research are included along with implications for teacher education and for in-service teachers. A model for devising a moral development plan for teacher education units is presented. Another model describes the process whereby in-service teachers can work to describe and develop their moral purposes. This study provides a detailed analysis of how successful teachers described their profession. The attitudes and beliefs underlying these descriptions are of significance to teachers and to teacher educators.

The researcher examined beginning teacher induction programs in large and small districts in Tennessee for the 1997-1998 school year. Types of induction, formal and informal, were examined. The study looked at the teacher attitudes of job satisfaction, job adjustment, and socialization into the profession of teaching. The research design included five questions with two hypotheses used for testing differences between teacher attitudes in large and small systems. Beginning first-year teachers were surveyed and asked to rate their induction program as to best practices. Teachers rated the occurrence of activities in seven areas and how supportive activities were in their roles as beginning teachers. The questions were tested and statistically analyzed using chi-square and analysis of variance procedures. No differences were found in the occurrence of induction activities in large and small systems. No differences were found in how supportive an event was in large and small systems. A difference was found in job adjustment between large and small systems, but not in job satisfaction or socialization into the profession. Recommendations for further research were made to augment the study.

The purpose of the study was to examine what teaching methods new college teachers received and which ones they believed were important. New college faculty were asked questions on teaching methods to determine which, if any, were made available to them before they entered college teaching. The research questions under study were: (1) What type(s) of methodological preparation do/does higher education faculty receive? (2) What methodological preparation would be beneficial to new higher education faculty? (3) How do new higher education faculty learn methodological preparation? (4) What strategies could be developed to assist new higher education faculty in the development of instructional skills? (5) Are there differences between faculty who teach at institutions classified according to the Carnegie Classifications (1987) regarding the importance of methodological preparation and the amount of training received? The conclusions of the study were that new faculty were not prepared for the overall duties of the career as college teacher, except for being knowledgeable in their subject area. New college faculty also indicated a large difference between what they should know prior to beginning their college teaching and what they actually know. There were differences between faculty at two year colleges and at four year colleges, both in what was perceived as important to know and in the amount of training received. The recommendations of the study were that training programs for new college faculty should prepare these faculty in more than content; that as more non-traditional students return to college, faculty need to know more about how adults learn, different student learning styles, and how to increase student motivation; colleges should include training mechanisms for new faculty, such as how to teach, developing mentoring relationships, or creating internships; and orientation programs should be set up for newly hired faculty.

Tennessee’s Ready2Teach initiative, a statewide teacher education reform, will be discussed with a description of its enactment at one regional university. Discussion will focus on how to utilize 300 hours of co-teaching in addition to student teaching.

This chapter focuses on the process of implementing problem based assessment at the college/university level in teacher education. Past research points to an overemphasis on factual information, lecture, and paper and pencil tests in higher education. Performance based assessment is discussed as an alternative and a measure that calls for students to demonstrate more active participation, critical thinking, and work that aligns more closely to what they will actually be engaged in in the field of education after graduation. Particularly, a case study of one university's path in the implementation of performance based assessment is highlighted. The process of implementing three specific performance based assessments are considered as well as roadblocks, assets, and specific methods found to be beneficial and/or challenging.

This study examined low and high level teachers' questioning patterns and classroom implementations within an argument-based inquiry approach known as the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH) approach, which addresses issues on negotiation, argumentation, learning, and teaching. The level of the teachers was determined by the students' writing scores. This study was conducted in Turkey with seven teacher for preliminary study. Because scoring writing samples examines the students' negotiation level with the different sources and students learn scientific process, as negotiation, which they may transfer into their writing, in classroom, two teachers were selected to represent low and high level teachers. Data collection involved classroom observation through video recordings. The comparative qualitative method was employed throughout the data analysis process with including quantitative results. The research questions that guided the present study were: (1) How are low and high level teachers, determined according to their students' writing scores, questioning patterns different from each other during classroom discourse? (2) Is there a relationship between students' writings and teachers' questioning styles in the classroom? Analysis of Qualitative data showed that teachers' classroom implementations reveal big differences based on argumentation patterns. The high level teacher, whose students had high scores in writing samples, asked more questions and the cognitive levels of questions were higher than the low level teacher. Questions promote an argumentative environment and improve critical thinking skills by discussing different ideas and claims. Asking more questions of teacher influences students to initiate (ask questions) more and to learn the scientific process with science concepts. Implicitly, this learning may improve students' comparison in their writing. Moreover, high level teacher had a more structured and organized classroom than low level teacher.

Research has shown that teacher workload is intensifying and teachers are increasingly leaving the profession prior to having taught for 35 years. The purpose of this mixed method, sequential, phenomenological study was to determine (a) how workload intensification impacts teacher performance and well-being, (b) whether or not workload intensification was a primary factor in teachers’ choosing to leave the profession early, and (c) a formula for maximizing teacher performance and well-being. Apple’s workload intensification thesis was the theoretical framework for this study. Quantitative data obtained via a survey (N=484), together with qualitative data collected via four focus group sessions and individual interviews with 15 teachers who had left the profession early, were utilized to determine if there is a problem with workload intensification in this east coast Canadian province. Quantitative data were analyzed using the chi-square test to determine the relationship between the independent variable (workload intensification) and each of the two dependent variables (performance and well-being). Qualitative data were analyzed to determine emergent themes with respect to workload intensification. Findings from this study indicated that there is a significant relationship between the independent variable and each of the two dependent variables. Qualitative data substantiated the quantitative findings that indicated (a) the presence of a problem with workload intensification and (b) that workload intensification is a primary factor in teachers’ choosing to leave the profession early. Recommendations include having administrators address identified current teacher workload issues. Positive social change may result if administrators utilize the derived formula for maximizing teacher performance and well-being when assigning teaching and nonteaching duties to teachers.