This paper reviews the literature on school effects and school improvement. The literature reveals that some schools are much more effective than others at optimizing achievement and other student outcomes, and that schools judged successful by these criteria tend to have in common certain leadership, goal commitment, and school atmosphere factors…

The author argues that "to answer certain research questions the individual student (rather than the classroom) is the proper unit of analysis." Appended are approximately 38 references. (Author/AK)

Student learning in elementary mathematics can be increased by some key teacher behaviors identified by research. (Author)

An overview of areas of classroom research explored in the past decade provides a foundation for discussing major conclusions which appear to emerge from recent research findings. The solid demonstration that teachers make a difference in student learning is cited as the chief contribution of classroom research in the 1970s. An example of research…

Explores problematic charter-school characteristics that must be changed to improve American education: lack of innovative practices and improved academic outcomes; disproportionate administrative costs; segregation of students by ethnicity, income level, and special needs; and deplorable physical learning environments. More competition, planning,…

The construct of performance expectations provides a way to organize knowledge about classroom instruction and learning. Areas of expectations that merit research include teacher knowledge of subject, teacher decisions about curriculum content and time allocation, classroom management, changes in expectations between teachers, task variables, and…

This paper presents recently reported findings that associate teacher behavior with student achievement. These findings fall under 5 general categories: time usage, classroom management, teacher expectations, teacher effectiveness research, and specific teacher behaviors. Research on time usage has demonstrated that the same amount of learning…

A shortage of certified and qualified science and mathematics teachers is one of the most visible and critical problems faced by our nation's schools. Because of the various approaches taken by different groups and agencies to solve the problem, the Improvement of Science and Mathematics Team (ISME) of the National Institute of Education (NIE) was…