American Federation of Teachers (AFT)
A national organization of teachers that is primarily concerned with improving educational conditions and protecting teachers' rights.
Collective Bargaining
A negotiating procedure between employer and employees for resolving disagreements on salaries, work schedules, and other conditions of employment. In collective bargaining, all teachers in a school system bargain as one group through chosen representatives.
Merit Pay
A salary system that bases a teacher's pay on performance.
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS)
A professional organization charged with establishing voluntary standards for recognizing superior teachers as board certified.
National Education Association (NEA)
The largest organization of educators, the NEA is concerned with the overall improvement of education and of the conditions of educators. It is organized at the national, state, and local levels.
Normal School
A two-year teacher education institution popular in the nineteenth century, many of which were expanded to become today's state colleges and universities.
Pay-For-Performance
A salary method that attempts to make teaching more accountable by linking teacher and student performance to teacher salary. A salary system that bases a teacher's pay on performance.
Pedagogy
The science of teaching.
Teachers License
A teaching credential issued by a state government that grants the legal right to teach, not unlike a driver's license, which grants the legal right to drive.
Tenure
A system of employment in which teachers, having served a probationary period, acquire an expectancy of continued employment. The majority of states have tenure laws.
True or False: Teacher salaries are standardized within states but vary enormously from wealthy states to poor ones.
False
True or False: In surveys by the National Education Association and the Department of Education, the vast majority of teachers reported they were satisfied with their jobs.
True
True or False: In colonial times, some teachers learned in an apprentice system; others were indentured servants.
True
True or False: Dean Holmes established the first teacher preparation program, called a normal school, in 1823.
False
True or False: The "normal schools" of yesterday have evolved into some of today's state colleges and universities.
True
True or False: Reform reports in the 1980s urged higher standards and increased professionalism for teachers.
True
True or False: Thanks to the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, teachers in the U.S. are finally being prepared in a standardized, rigorous fashion, and the profession is gaining greater respect as a result.
False
True or False: Teach for America, an alternative to traditional teacher preparation programs, has been criticized for having a lower proportion of teachers of color than traditional programs do.
False
True or False: Teachers with a strong subject matter background need not concern themselves with methods or other pedagogy courses, for their love and command of the subject will propel them into excellence.
False
True or False: Today, teaching is one of the most organized occupations in the nation, with most teachers belonging to either the NEA or AFT.
True
True or False: John Dewey was a member of the AFT.
True
True or False: Historically, the NEA has had the image of a streetwise, scrappy union.
False