Teacher effectiveness research has used changing criteria over the years in assessing and evaluating teacher performance and its effect on student achievement. Early researchers accepted the idea that there should be a relationship between the personality or traits of the teacher and student outcomes. Lists of characteristics of superior teachers…

A review of past methods of observing teacher behavior is presented, with comment on the relative effectiveness of each method provided. A research model using videotape recording of teachers' in-classroom behavior is suggested, and information given concerning the current use of similar methods of observation. (LH)

Since the 1890s, researchers have been studying the impact of teachers' characteristics and styles on their students' progress. Many attempts to quantify basis of quality teaching have been made. The research into teaching styles has traveled through four distinct phases. The first was concerned with describing the characteristics of the effective…