Classroom process data indicate that teacher praise cannot be equated with reinforcement. Often it is not even intended as reinforcement, and when it is, it frequently has some other function. The meanings and functions of behaviors typically included under the category of teacher praise are determined by the degree of congruence between verbal…

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of teacher expectancy on student performance. The question is asked: Do teachers in secondary grades treat students for whom they have low expectations in ways that tend to fulfill them, and if so, what is the nature of this differential treatment? Differential teacher behavior (quantitative and…

This study continues an earlier project (ED010369) to determine if student achievement and attitude toward school subjects (1) can be improved by increasing feedback to teachers concerning pupil and/or trained observer reaction to their teaching, (2) correlate significantly with attitude of teachers toward their pupils, (3) can be improved to a…

Flanders' Interaction Analysis, which classifies verbal interaction into 10 categories, was used to compare two groups consisting of seven trainable mentally retarded (TMR) classrooms each. The sample was selected from the extremes of a population of 87 TMR classrooms on the basis of their teachers' high (tending to flexibility and harmony) or low…