Empirical Research
Lowering Teacher Attrition Rates through Collegiality
Reviewed By Jameelah Abdallah
Volume 7 - Issue 1
Feb 18, 2009 - 1:27:14 PM

Teacher attrition is a serious problem for schools across the United States, with attrition rates continuing to rise annually. Many studies have been conducted in order to determine the causes of the rising attrition rates. Although there are many different causes, 50% of all outgoing teachers cite a severe sense of isolation as the main reason for leaving teaching. Another study showed that a lack of positive interaction with peers and colleagues is also a significant factor contributing to attrition rates. Collegiality, or cooperative interaction among colleagues, can help to lower the attrition rate by fostering a sense of community, support and interaction among teachers in schools. Studies have shown that schools which have good collegiality show lower attrition rates than schools in which teachers work completely independently of each other.
This article looks at the importance of collegiality in schools and its impact on teacher attrition rates.

Empirical Research
Benefits of Co-Teaching for ESL Classrooms
Reviewed By Jameelah Abdallah
Volume 7 - Issue 1
Feb 18, 2009 - 1:24:59 PM

Co-teaching can be defined as the collaboration of two teachers working together cooperatively to teach the same class. Co-teaching has many benefits including lowering the student-teacher rate, easing individual teachers’ workload and fostering an atmosphere of collegiality among teachers. Co-teaching is becoming more commonly used as an effective teaching practice in schools across the United States. The practice of co-teaching can also be positively applied to English as Second Language (ESL) classrooms. Co-teaching in ESL classrooms also allows the students to be more submerged in the English language. All teachers, including ESL teachers, have a choice of five teaching models from which to choose when implementing co-teaching in their classrooms.