A revised edition of this book on teacher incompetence which, using research information, offers an analysis of the types of administrative response: tolerance of poor performance, salvage attempts and induced exits.

A revised edition of this book on teacher incompetence which, using research information, offers an analysis of the types of administrative response: tolerance of poor performance, salvage attempts and induced exits.

Featuring the same practical guidelines for ridding schools of incompetent teachers as the 1984 edition, this new edition incorporates substantially revised material on three topics: criteria and information sources for evaluating teaching effectiveness, remediation procedures, and grounds for dismissal. The book presents an eight-step systematic, organizational approach to resolving several interrelated problems: (1) the legal barriers to dismissing tenured teachers for classroom incompetence; (2) the technical problems of evaluating teacher effectiveness; and (3) the human obstacles, chiefly supervisors' unwillingness to discharge teacher evaluation, remediation, and dismissal responsibilities. The eight steps are: (1) establishing teaching excellence as a high district priority; (2) adopting and publishing reasonable teacher evaluation criteria; (3) adopting sound procedures for determining whether teachers satisfy these criteria; (4) providing unsatisfactory teachers with remediation and a reasonable time to improve; (5) ensuring that appraisers have the requisite competencies; (6) providing appraisers with necessary resources; (7) holding appraisers accountable for evaluating and dealing with incompetent teachers; and (8) providing incompetent teachers with a fair hearing prior to making the dismissal decision. The final chapter recommends strategies for creating environmental conditions conducive to success. A commitment to ongoing leadership is essential. An appendix contains the District Evaluation Practices Inventory, designed to be used in conjunction with this handbook. (143 references) (MLH)

Cameron (former executive director of the National Education Association) offers a personal account of the teacher revolution of the 1960s, when educators in public school classrooms around the country began to organize. He identifies the conditions that sparked this rebellion and follows its trajectory over a forty-year period. Coverage includes such topics as the challenges of the education reform movement of the 1980s and the failed merger attempt between the NEA and the American Federation of Teachers. Distributed in the U.S. by Rowman & Littlefield. Annotation: 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).