Maintains that issues of student assessment and grading are of particular concern to music teachers. Discusses and describes performance-based and alternative assessment techniques. Recommends the use of portfolios to determine student grades. (CFR)

Responds to a college student's criticism of a professor's grading policies and teaching methods, considering political correctness and the meaning of grades. An underlying concern is the issue of the teacher's homosexuality. Argues that the student's letter is symptomatic of the college's attempt to suppress oppositional pedagogy. (SLD)

This article describes the use of a management simulation in a Chinese university during the spring semesters of 1997, 1998, and 2000. Although administrative difficulties presented special problems, Chinese university administrators were interested in introducing this form of experiential learning. Student reaction was positive. Participating in…

This study examines the difficulties biology teachers face when teaching cell division in the secondary schools of the central part of the Erzurum province in Turkey. During this research, a questionnaire was distributed to a total of 36 secondary school biology teachers. Findings of the study indicate biology teachers perceive cell division as…

Traditionally campus-based courses rely on student evaluations to provide instructors with feedback about their teaching effectiveness. However, current student evaluations of teaching instruments do not adequately assess many of the essential constructivist-based teaching practices recommended for quality online learning experiences. One of the…

This study examined the effects of individual differences, attitudes, past performances, and teaching behaviors on 286 undergraduate college students' achievement, attribution, affective, and motivational outcomes. The study was conducted at the University of Manitoba using a theoretical model based on Weiner's theory of achievement motivation.…

This report describes a program for measuring student growth in the reading and writing process in order to improve achievement. The targeted population consisted of first- and second-grade students in three schools serving two suburban communities, located near a large midwestern city. School enrollment figures were 350, 399, and 669 students.…

Portfolio evaluation process promotes thinking while it minimizes multiple-choice mentality. Some educators find that reviewing with the students what they learned, with consideration for the structure of knowledge, provides self-confidence for the pupils' next try. They need self-confidence to critique each other's work, before the teacher…

The effects of a statewide testing policy on school district organizational structure are described in this report. A year-long ethnographic case study identified the following dysfunctional results of school reform based on external regulation: ambivalent local educator attitudes; the promotion of a professional teaching dilemma; negative…

Through the process of clinical supervision, systematic approaches permit effective change by the collaborative analysis of teaching. This guide's first section, "Beginnings," describes the process of clinical supervision. Emphasis is upon teachers working collaboratively to discover implicit teaching messages and to assimilate new…

A report is given of the results of an evaluation designed to measure differences in performance among Career Level I, II, and III teachers in the Tennessee Career Ladder Program. Using specifically designed evaluation instruments, teachers who by Career Level status are considered the best in Tennessee, were evaluated by teacher candidates,…

Student academic motivation and student evaluation of overall faculty effectiveness and instructional techniques at Barber-Scotia College were studied to identify the academically underprepared and unmotivated students. Students provided assessments concerning the impact of the college's course offerings, the effectiveness of their instructors,…

Characteristics of 30 University of Illinois college teachers judged to be best at stimulating student curiosity and their teaching practices were studied in 1978, based on interviews and results of student evaluations of teacher performance. Attention was directed to undergraduate and graduate training, teaching experience during graduate study,…

Behavior management involves both the encouragement of social behavior and the reduction of inappropriate behavior. Initially, teaching efforts should be directed at identifying socially acceptable alternatives. If these efforts are unsuccessful, additional procedures that are specifically directed at the inappropriate behavior may be warranted.…

Even the best teacher education programs are notoriously short and barely adequate for preparing students to teach in today's schools. At the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto (OISE/UT) several projects have been undertaken in the use of sources in history classrooms (see Ruth Sandwell's article in this…