The naturalistic study described in this report was conducted for the purpose of determining the perspectives held by beginning teachers, the decisions based on those perspectives, the factors affecting perspectives and decision making, and implications of the knowledge gained for refining and redesigning teacher preparation and inservice training…

The consortium Mini-In-Service Mathematics Project consisted of teachers attending two three-hour graduate classes at each of seven sites in West Virginia. This document reports on the activities of the project and the results of a variety of evaluations done on and about the project. All participants completed a mathematics and a mathematics…

For schools, acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) initially represented a policy problem requiring legal and public health experts to assess their ability to exclude students or staff infected with the human immuno-deficiency virus. As the crisis over the potential presence of people with AIDS in the schools abated and with the growing…

Two assertions regarding the Regular Education Initiative (REI) are presented: (1) general educators are not willing to serve students with handicaps, and (2) general educators are not competent to serve students with handicaps. Illinois general education teachers (N=314) were surveyed to examine their attitudes and perceived ability to work with…

Progress in second language instruction requires both new materials and a change in teacher attitudes, but the materials are easier to come by than the attitude change. The paper describes classroom exchanges occurring in two lessons given in Austrian sixth and eighth grade English classes respectively that illustrate the differences between a…

This speech presents a teacher's account of the implementation of the Standards of Excellence Program in a Denver, Colorado, elementary school. Eight questions from the assessment instrument are cited that prompted the staff to reevaluate the educational program. Results of the assessment were analyzed by a committee, and objectives were set by…

In 1985-86, reading was identified as the supplemental instructional area of the Albuquerque (New Mexico) Public Schools (APS) for funding under the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act, Chapter 1. In all, 39 elementary schools, 13 middle schools, and 4 high schools in the APS qualified for Chapter 1 services; 4,317 elementary school…

A study examined how teachers change as they implement a process writing approach. Four questions provided the framework for the study: (1) How do teachers' perceptions of themselves as writers influence their writing instruction? (2) How do teachers at different grade levels implement process writing instruction? (3) What institutional and…

The relationships among training activities, teacher perceptions of recommended practices, and teacher behavior change were investigated. Nineteen junior high school teachers of low-achieving students were observed prior to receiving training in workshops on use of academic time. The teachers also responded to questionnaires designed to determine…

During the first phase of a three-phase study of teaching basic reading skills in the secondary schools, 43 secondary-school reading classrooms were observed for three days, and the relationships between teaching processes and students' gains in reading were examined. Data were recorded with the Secondary Observation Instrument, and the Classroom…

Data analyses and interpretation are presented in this report on data obtained from "A Study of Schooling." For this study, data were collected from elementary, junior, and senior high schools (a total of 38 schools) through the use of classroom observation, questionnaires, and interviews. The data discussed in this report is concerned with…

Evaluation of Project Learning Tree (PLT) involved a survey of PLT's utilization in British Columbia and the field experiment. The survey included participant observers' reports on PLT teacher training workshops, a mail survey of workshop participants, and telephone interviews with selected respondents. Two treatment conditions were effected at…

Second-year results of the Block Plan, initiated in the seventh grade of a large junior high school in Alberta, Canada in 1980, indicate that the program is successful. The Block Plan uses the concept of a pair of teachers being assigned to two classes for the homeroom period plus four academic core courses--language arts/social science and…

A study investigated and compared the instructional behaviors, class content, and class organization of kindergarten and first grade movement educators and traditional physical education teachers. Literature on this topic suggests that movement educators focus on indirect teaching methods, nontraditional classroom settings, student involvement,…

The seven articles in this focused journal issue are concerned with choosing books for teaching and the various constraints on those choices. The first article, by Richard Lederer, discusses George Orwell's "1984" and the principles of Newspeak. His article sets the tone for the next two articles: "Beware the Misuse of…