The important part played in monitoring systems by site visits by inspectors is discussed and illustrated with a review of the role played by the national inspectorate for education in England (Her Majesty's Inspectorate). Inspection has the potential to generate performance indicators of educational quality. (SLD)

The observational study of effective instructional processes in kindergarten by DeVries and others is critiqued. It is maintained that (1) the study takes a narrow approach to constructivism that does not reflect current thinking; (2) there are flaws in the coding system used; and (3) the understanding of instructional issues involving minority…

A two-year study of preschoolers attempted to identify emotions and prosocial behaviors that reliably predict teachers' ratings of young preschoolers' affective and behavioral social-emotional competence. Results showed that observed emotion, especially anger and sadness, often predicted teacher ratings of social-emotional competence in…

A naturalistic approach to evaluation is illustrated through the description of the evaluation of a small-scale agricultural project in a village in Mali, West Africa. The evaluation considered program impact as well as the quality of the conclusions drawn using the illuminative model of evaluation. (SLD)

Student, beginning, and experienced teachers viewed a videotape of a first grade teacher in action. Researchers compared their written responses to questions about classroom management, teacher-student interactions, and use of student knowledge. They found few differences between student and beginning teachers. Experienced teachers better…

Discussion of Lois Lenski's children's books focuses on the realism that predominates in her work through the use of real-life observation as opposed to imagination alone. Ways to use her work as part of a whole language approach to teach reading as well as science, geography, and social studies are suggested. (23 references) (LRW)

Reports on a study of user-based relevance interpretations which considered the nature of users' thought processes in evaluating bibliographic citations produced by a document retrieval system. Factors found to be important include an individual's subject knowledge, professional training, educational background, anticipated usage of documents,…

Describes a three-day course offered by British consultants to train key education officers and teacher advisor-trainers in Botswana in observational and interaction skills as part of an effort to improve primary education in the country. Details the instructional content of each day of the course devoted to ice-breaker activities, math…

Examines adults' literacy-assisted behavior, roles, and role-taking during spontaneous play of three and four year olds in three literacy-based play settings. The descriptive observations point toward commonalities among adults' facilitation of literacy play, accepted play intervention techniques, and adult behavior in storybook reading contexts.…

Describes a study of undergraduates in the Open University that used qualitative research methods to investigate how students learn with educational television. Results of observations, interviews, and test data are analyzed to determine which program features are important, and the methodology is contrasted with the one used in other studies of…

Describes an assessment process and its use in planning early childhood programs. Information from parents and from observations of children was used to develop a comprehensive assessment of each child. The assessment was used to note the needs and interests of the children and extend their learning experiences. (SH)

The idea of assessment driving the curriculum and the importance of assessing students constantly instead of using only standardized tests are discussed. Informal observations used by teachers as a way of assessing student progress is emphasized. The United Kingdom's National Curriculum assessment program are described. (KR)

Four naturalistic methods for assessing college student learning styles are discussed: direct observation of student behavior, in-depth interviews with students, analysis of self-directed learning projects, and analysis of the guiding metaphors used by students in describing the teaching-learning process. Each suggests ways teachers can adapt to…

Responds to Martyn Hammersley's critique of the authors' research concerning classroom participation of boys and girls. Agrees generally with Hammersley's critique. Defends the small-scale approach for its ability to examine interactive mechanisms by which inequality in participation was produced. (DB)

Observation of mixed-age undergraduate classes and analysis of students' interactions showed that older students tended to dominate the discourse; the cognitive level of discourse was not altered by the presence of older students; and andragogical practices may not be the most effective strategies for mixed-age classes. (SK)