RE: Question 1: Attracting and Retaining Teachers for underserved students

Many others have made excellent comments about the methods for attracting teachers and generally improving the competiveness of teaching as a profession.  We also need methods to retain teachers in the classroom in underachieving schools.  One problem in these schools is teacher burn-out.  I think so many teachers leave who leave these school really want to stay, but come to see that they cannot be effective in the environment and are also not valued by their administration or students.  Imagine: you have no supplies other than what you have puchased.  You have 40+ students.  Some students are disruptive, but no-one answers the office telephone in an emergency.  Later, you want to call parents so you have to walk to the office to use a phone sitting on a counter in a public area.  The number the District has is wrong. In class one student strikes another and is removed, but the administrator sends the student back to class within 15 minutes.  It is hard to feel good when these kinds of incidents are basically daily occurences and there is no support for or effort toward change. Many teachers are able to cope with this and continue to help students and push for gradual change.  But, many find this too much of a burden and cannot continually respond, they are "burned out."  We need both improvements in the ability of teachers to secure change and in support for those teachers through counelling, or collegial discussions, so that there is less unneccessary stress.