Teacher effectiveness and teacher quality have become the focus of intense international attention and concern. Around the world, governments are modifying existing certification requirements or implementing value-added modeling in order to qualify teachers without planning for the long-term consequences of these actions. The book brings together scholars from multi-disciplinary and international backgrounds to address two critical areas: (1) what existing cross-national measures of teacher effectiveness and teacher quality are most promising, and how can these be aligned to maximize their research potential; and (2) what core constructs of teacher quality or effectiveness are missing, and how can cross-national research help identify these. Identifying both what is used and what is missing in the international and comparative analysis and reform of teacher quality is key to informing evidence-based educational policy formation around teacher quality.

The International Handbook of Teacher Quality and Policy is a comprehensive resource that examines how teacher quality is conceptualized, negotiated, and contested, and teacher policies are developed and implemented by global, national, and local policy actors. Edited by two of the leading comparative authorities in the field, it draws on the research and contributions of scholars from across the globe to explore five central questions: How has teacher quality been conceptualized from various disciplinary and theoretical perspectives? How are global and transnational policy actors and networks influencing teacher policies and practices? What are the perspectives and experiences of teachers in local policy contexts? What do comparative research studies tell us about teachers and how their work and policy contexts influence their teaching? How have various countries implemented policies aimed at improving teacher quality and how have these policies influenced teachers and students? The international contributors represent a wide variety of scholars who identify global dynamics influencing policy discourses on teacher quality, and examine national and local teaching and policy environments influencing teacher policy development and implementation in various countries. Divided into five sections, the book brings together the latest conceptual and empirical studies on teacher quality and teacher policies to inform future policy directions for recruiting, educating, and supporting the teaching profession.

This volume examines the lives of young adolescents in Japanese middle schools, focusing on the dynamics of school, family, and social life, and explores the change from child to adolescent that takes place in the middle school years.

This volume examines the lives of young adolescents in Japanese middle schools, focusing on the dynamics of school, family, and social life, and explores the change from child to adolescent that takes place in the middle school years.
The book discusses several themes which play a major role in how Japanese adolescents deal with school, academic pressure, social maturation, social hierarchy, personality development, and the development of gender identity.
Students of varying economic, family, and social backgrounds tell their stories. In describing and analyzing the lives of middle school students, Drs LeTendre and Fukuzawa offer the reader a new perspective on Japanese education and society that demonstrates the successes and problems faced by Japanese students, parents, and teachers.

In this book the authors systematically address the most common stereotypes or myths about Japanese education that are currently being circulated in the popular press, teaching magazines and educational research journals. The authors show how arguments about Japan are used to further political ends within the American educational debate. Some of the myths that the book debunks are Japan's high adolescent suicide rate. LeTendre and Zeng show that adolescent suicide among males is now twice as high in the U.S. as in Japan. Tsuchida and Lewis take on the myth of Japanese classrooms as crowded places centered on rote-learning--providing detailed evidence as to why Japanese students may indeed have an "edge" in math. McConnell uses Japan's highly successful foreign language program to deconstruct images of "Japan Inc."--showing the highly fractious and bitter political debates that occur in Japan. Yang provides data on differences in Japanese and American teachers' work roles--showing that differences in the two educational systems are not simply due to "cultural" differences, but have a basis in educational policy and school organization. Shimizu offers an alternative view of achievement motivation among Japanese students based on in-depth interviews with Japanese teens.

The International Handbook of Teacher Quality and Policy is a comprehensive resource that examines how teacher quality is conceptualized, negotiated, and contested, and teacher policies are developed and implemented by global, national, and local policy actors. Edited by two of the leading comparative authorities in the field, it draws on the research and contributions of scholars from across the globe to explore five central questions: How has teacher quality been conceptualized from various disciplinary and theoretical perspectives? How are global and transnational policy actors and networks influencing teacher policies and practices? What are the perspectives and experiences of teachers in local policy contexts? What do comparative research studies tell us about teachers and how their work and policy contexts influence their teaching? How have various countries implemented policies aimed at improving teacher quality and how have these policies influenced teachers and students? The international contributors represent a wide variety of scholars who identify global dynamics influencing policy discourses on teacher quality, and examine national and local teaching and policy environments influencing teacher policy development and implementation in various countries. Divided into five sections, the book brings together the latest conceptual and empirical studies on teacher quality and teacher policies to inform future policy directions for recruiting, educating, and supporting the teaching profession.

In this important work, major scholars on Japan draw on ethnographic and experimental studies of learning throughout the lifespan to explore the Japanese style of learning. The reader will get an inside view of Japanese teaching methods, where the emphasis is on the process of learning, rather than the end product. In Japan, applications across contexts--from religion to music, to mathematics, to guidance are very differently handled than in the West. Contributors analyze various models of learning within and without the Japanese school system. The examples considered here allow the reader to understand better the rich coherence and variety of educational experiences in the broader social context. A carefully articulated introduction and conclusion by the editors provide salient comparisons of East and West and cautions that we do not simplify our model of either one. Teaching and Learning in Japan will be of interest to educators, Japan scholars, and to educational psychologists.

In this important work, major scholars on Japan draw on ethnographic and experimental studies of learning throughout the lifespan to explore the Japanese style of learning. The reader will get an inside view of Japanese teaching methods, where the emphasis is on the process of learning, rather than the end product. In Japan, applications across contexts--from religion to music, to mathematics, to guidance are very differently handled than in the West. Contributors analyze various models of learning within and without the Japanese school system. The examples considered here allow the reader to understand better the rich coherence and variety of educational experiences in the broader social context. A carefully articulated introduction and conclusion by the editors provide salient comparisons of East and West and cautions that we do not simplify our model of either one. Teaching and Learning in Japan will be of interest to educators, Japan scholars, and to educational psychologists.

The organization of middle schools and the practices of middle school teachers in Japan and the United States differ dramatically, Gerald K. LeTendre demonstrates in this compelling comparative study. Based on his long-term observations in Japanese and American schools and on analyses of curricula and classroom practices, the author describes what teachers, administrators, and counselors in each country believe about adolescent development. He explores how these beliefs are put into practice and how they affect adolescent development. In both nations, LeTendre observes, school personnel are extremely concerned with volition: the developing willpower of young adolescents. But while both Americans and Japanese believe that nurturing a young person's ability to use his or her will is crucial, they take very different approaches to dealing with expressions of will. LeTendre also finds conflicting expectations and theories about adolescent development within each system, and he investigates how these can lead to confusion and contradictory rules.

In this book the authors systematically address the most common stereotypes or myths about Japanese education that are currently being circulated in the popular press, teaching magazines and educational research journals. The authors show how arguments about Japan are used to further political ends within the American educational debate. Some of the myths that the book debunks are Japan's high adolescent suicide rate. LeTendre and Zeng show that adolescent suicide among males is now twice as high in the U.S. as in Japan. Tsuchida and Lewis take on the myth of Japanese classrooms as crowded places centered on rote-learning--providing detailed evidence as to why Japanese students may indeed have an "edge" in math. McConnell uses Japan's highly successful foreign language program to deconstruct images of "Japan Inc."--showing the highly fractious and bitter political debates that occur in Japan. Yang provides data on differences in Japanese and American teachers' work roles--showing that differences in the two educational systems are not simply due to "cultural" differences, but have a basis in educational policy and school organization. Shimizu offers an alternative view of achievement motivation among Japanese students based on in-depth interviews with Japanese teens.