About Teaching as a Profession

In recent years, debates about improving K-12 education have increasingly focused on improving the preparation and performance of teachers. Professional development, career ladders, better incentives and rewards, and stricter accountability have all been offered up as tools for enhancing teacher professionalism.

This volume brings together the best articles previously published in the Harvard Education Letter (ben, please link to www.edletter.org) about the profession of teaching. What are the benefits of co-teaching? How can collaborative assessment improve teaching? Is Asian-style lesson study an effective professional development tool? Do lead-teacher programs attract talent to the profession or undermine school unity? Is National Board Certification a boon to the profession, or a boondoggle? What changes must be made to keep the next generation of teachers on the job?

This valuable collection, which highlights the work of both scholars and school practitioners, offers classroom-tested solutions for improving the way teachers work and the conditions in which they do so.

The HEL Focus Series brings together concise and carefully researched articles on current issues in education. Each collection provides educators, administrators, policymakers, and parents with a balanced look at research and practice in a specific area. For other volumes in the Focus Series, please visit www.edletter.org

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Table of Contents for Teaching as a Profession

Putting National Board Certification to the Test
by David Gordon

Retaining the Next Generation of Teachers: The Importance of School-based Support (click to read the full-text)
by Susan Moore Johnson and members of the Project on the Next Generation of Teachers

Teachers Leading Teachers
by Karen Kelly

How the 'Green-Eyed Monster' Hinders Innovative Teachers
by Julie M. Wood

Schools Get Creative to Find Good Substitute Teachers
by Karen Kelly and Michael Chavez Reilly

Solving Problems with "Action Research": A Conversation with Pedro Noguera

Building Good Working Relationships Between Practitioners and Researchers
by Eliane B. Rubinstein-Avila and Carola Suárez-Orozco

Collaborative Assessment: Putting Teachers in the Driver's Seat
by Anne Lewis

Teachers' 'Rounds': Using a Medical Tradition to Improve Practice
by Nancy Walser

What Teachers Know-and Don't Know-Really Does Matter
by Dennis Sparks

Arming New Teachers with Survival Skills: A Conversation with Katherine K. Merseth

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Publishing information

Teaching as a Profession
Edited by David T. Gordon
HEL Focus Series No. 8
© 2002
ISBN 1-883433-10-X $14.95 SALE PRICE: $4.95 paperback, ORDER
30 page report

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