December 14, 2000 | Read Time: 1 minute
A Sense of Calling: Who Teaches and Why, by Steve Farkas, Jean Johnson, and Tony Foleno, reports on attitudes about teaching as a profession among new teachers, superintendents and principals, and recent college graduates in other professions, as measured by three national telephone surveys. Of the 914 new teachers surveyed, 97 percent said their current teaching position makes them feel like they are contributing to society, and 96 percent said teaching is work they love to do. Recent college graduates in other professions said they held teaching in high regard but identified worries about personal safety, low pay, and lack of respect as drawbacks to the job. The study was financed with grants from the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, in Washington, and the Open Society Institute, in New York.
Publisher: Public Agenda, 6 East 39th Street, New York, N.Y. 10016; (212) 686-6610; fax (212) 889-3461; info@publicagenda.org; http://www.publicagenda.org; 52 pages; $10.
