Key Questions Regarding the Professional Life of Teachers

• Do teachers function in differentiated roles such as mentoring of novices, directing curriculum development, and supervision of peers?

• Do staff function in extended roles with students that involve advising and mentoring?

• Do staff help to design ongoing, on-the-job staff development based on local needs assessment?

• Do staff participate in collegial planning, curriculum development, and peer observation-reflection, with time scheduled for this during the school day?

• Do teachers teach in teams?

• Do teachers exercise control over curriculum and school policy?

• Are there specific organizational incentives for teachers to experiment and to develop new programs and curriculum that respond more effectively to student diversity?

• Do teachers work with students in flexible time periods?

• Do teachers work with students as much in small groups and individual study as in whole class instruction?

• Do teachers receive financial rewards based on student outcomes or evaluation of teaching performance? (Paris, 1994)