Announcements:

• South Dakota will now accept the verification of program completion with a university sign off from Rio Salado. Candidates must meet the necessary standards required through Rio Salado, and South Dakota has found their program to provide the necessary rigor to meet their certification standards!

• South Dakota offers bonus to qualified veterans. The state of South Dakota is paying a veterans bonus of up to $500 to certain military personnel who were legal residents of the state for no less than six months immediately preceding entry into the Armed Forces, who are currently on active duty or were honorably discharged from the Armed Forces, and who served on active duty during one, or both of the following periods.

• The Idaho State Board of Education has voted to accept the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence Passport to Teaching. More information will be provided as it becomes available.

• The College of Education, Health & Human Development at Montana State University has developed the Northern Plains Transition to Teaching (NPTT) program in part to supplement the Troops-to-Teachers program. This is a distance delivered, compressed format teacher licensure/certification program. The NPTT program is currently approved to recommend licensure/certification in Montana, South Dakota and Wyoming. This innovative alternative licensure/certification program can have you eligible to accept a teaching position after taking three online qualification courses. The remainder of the program is completed during the first year of teaching. The cost of the program is covered by the $5,000 Troops-to-Teachers stipend.

• The National Teacher Recruitment Clearinghouse is a good resource for those looking for information on how to become a teacher.

•  Troops-to-Teachers has funds available to provide program participants with stipends (up to $5,000) to defray the costs of certification and reloacation, and/or bonuses (up to $10,000) for those who commit to teaching in "high needs" schools for a minimum of three years.

• Several institutions have developed distance delivered licensure/certification programs that may be appropriate for your situation. Please ensure that whichever program you are interested in participating in is able to recommend licensure/certification in the state(s) you plan to teach in.

• HUD has developed the Teacher Next Door program. Basically, it's a $100 down-payment program and 50% off, house-buying program for K-12 teachers. Teachers need to qualify for 50% of the sales price and the other 50% becomes a silent second mortgage which dies of natural causes on the third anniversary of owner-occupancy. Another great incentive to become a teacher.

News:

• District Rewards Retirees, The Rapid City Journal

• Districts Across State Report Teacher Pay Increases, The Billings Gazette

• New No Child Left Behind Flexibility: Highly Qualified Teachers, The U.S. Department of Education

• Statement of Ross Wiener, Policy Director for the Education Trust on the U.S. Department of Education's Announcement of New Teacher Quality Policies, The Education Trust

• Department of Education responding to demands for improvement, NEA

• Can Teacher Quality Be Effectively Assessed, Dan Goldhaber and Emily Anthony

• Romney plan would loosen rules on teacher firings, The Boston Globe

• Texas begs for teachers – with or without credentials, The Christian Science Monitor

• The Gentleman's 'A', Education Next

• The Real Value of Teachers, The Education Trust

• The Impact of Mentoring in Teacher Retention, Richard Ingersoll and Jeffrey M. Kralik, Education Commission of the States

• Pulled Away or Pushed Out? Explaining the Decline of Teacher Aptitude in the United States

• The Latest Bogeyman: Teacher Retention, by Jack Wenders, Texas Education Review

• Too Few Good Men, The Christian Science Monitor

• Making the Switch to Teaching, St. Petersburg Times

• Teachers Freed from Humdrum Tasks, BBC News

• Streamlined Program's Aim: A Faster Track for Teachers, USA Today

• A National Crisis or Localized Problems? Getting Perspective on the Scope and Scale of the Teacher Shortage, Education Policy Analysis Archives

• More Information Would Help States Determine Which Teachers Are Highly Qualified, General Accounting Office

• Examining the Roots of Uneven Instruction Quality in Our Schools, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

• Who's Teaching the Teachers?, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

• Are Teacher Entrance Tests Tough Enough?, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

• Do Schools Hire the Best Teachers? Probably Not, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

• The Secretary of Education's Math and Science Initiative

• The Latest Bogeyman: Teacher Retention, John Wenders, University of Idaho Prof of Economics

• No Dream Denied: A Pledge to America's Children, National Commission on Teaching and America's Future

• Tear Down This Wall: The Case for a Radical Overhaul of Teacher Certification, American Enterprise Institute

• How I Joined Teach for America--And Got Sued for $20 Million, City Journal

• Teachers Struggle Like Pupils, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

• Teaching Schools Forced to Rethink Approach, The Washington Post

• Big Teacher Gap Now Filling In, Christian Science Monitor

• The Impact of the Teacher Advancement Program on Student Achievement, Teacher Attitudes, and Job Satisfaction, John Schacter, Tamara Schiff, Yeow Meng Thum, Cheryl Fagnano, Micheline Bendotti, Lew Solmon, Kimberly Firetag, and Lowell Milken

• Politician Details Plan to Lure Teachers, Associated Press

• Moving Instruction to Center Stage, Harvard Education Newsletter

• Best Discipline Is Good Curriculum, Rethinking Schools

• Ed Schools in Crisis, Martin Kozloff

• Education Chairman Says Teacher Test Too Easy, Reno Gazette-Journal

• The Accreditation Game, Education Next

• It's 8 A.M., and Everything is Not Under Control, Christian Science Monitor

• Teaching as a Clinical Profession: A New Challenge for Education, Carnegie Corporation

• New Teacher Quality Studies: Putting Lipstick on a Pig, 21st Century Schools Project Bulletin

• The Effectiveness of "Teach for America" and Other Under-certified Teachers on Student Academic Achievement: A Case of Harmful Public Policy, Education Policy Analysis Archives

• Tax Break for Teachers, The Motley Fool

• As Standards Rise, Too Few Teachers, The Christian Science Monitor

• System snubs qualified teachers, USA Today

• Unlikely Source of Teachers, USA Today

• In rural areas, the four-day school week is growing in popularity, The Christian Science Monitor

• Teacher of the Year Calls Teaching America's No. 1 Patriotic Job, DefenseLINK News

• Home-Grown Solutions to Common Problems, Catalyst

• Retired Army Colonel Named Teacher of Year, CNN.com

• Schools and Staffing Survey, National Center for Education Statistics

• School District’s Effort to Keep Teachers Lands it in Legal Trouble, Kansas City Star

• Better Pay for Better Teaching: Making Teacher Compensation Pay Off in the Age of Accountability, Progressive Policy Institute

• Teacher Test Results Pressure Universities, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

• Teachers Who Made A Difference, Teacher Quality Bulletin

• In Vegas, recruiting teachers is a ruthless art, The Christian Science Monitor

• The California Teacher Shortage - Recruitment or Retention Crisis?, The Irascible Professor

• Mayoral Duty No. 1: Teach History, Christian Science Monitor

• A Modest Proposal: The Case for Radically Overhauling Teacher Licensure, American School Board Journal

• Improving Teacher Quality, American School Board Journal

• Quality Teachers: Can Incentive Policies Make a Difference?, SREB

• Who Will Teach Our Children?, American School Board Journal

• In School, No Points for Style, Washington Post

• U.S. Teachers' Salaries Fall Below Economic Trends, National Education Association

• The Mystery of Good Teaching, Education Next

• Early Childhood Education Initiative, White House Policies in Focus

• Remarks by First Lady, Laura Bush, has to say to the House Education and Workforce Committee regarding teaching and the No Child Left Behind Act, U.S. Whitehouse

• Too Many Teacher Colleges Major in Mediocrity, USA Today

• Altruism Draws New Teachers, Washington Post

• You Get What You Pay For, Education World

• Tortuous Routes [A Grisly Picture of Alternative Certification], Education Next

• Education Committee Says NEA 'Misleading Teachers', CNN.com