This paper considers the implementation of Student Performance Standards (SPS) in Queensland, Australia, and their implications for teacher education. Student testing procedures in various Australian states and territories are described. A theoretical framework, grounded in Australian educational history, is elaborated for understanding the…

This booklet is intended to help teachers, aides, and parents of preschool-age children to establish desirable behaviors and eliminate inappropriate behaviors in their children. Following a list of definitions, the booklet discusses how to discriminate between different types of behavior and how to choose the appropriate level of response. Major…

To broaden and extend the Mt. Druitt Early Childhood Project, a study was made of variables that research suggested were associated with classroom disruption in the primary school. Disruptive incidents in the classroom were construed as sequences of behaviors involving one or more students and the teacher in which class order breaks down and the…

An executive summary is presented of the study on school programs for Alberta natives (Metis, status and non-status Indians) sponsored by the Curriculum Policies Committee, which advises the Alberta Minister of Education on matters relating to the curricula used in provincial schools. The summary briefly describes the study's terms of reference,…

The past decade has been a productive era for classroom research. Recent investigations have yielded useful concepts for thinking about classrooms and about facilitating achievement. Research findings and concepts provide a way of considering classroom instruction, but they are not rules for classroom behavior. Some teachers believe (and behave…

Conceptualizing stress as an interaction of organizational or work characteristics (stress stimuli) and individual characteristics (stress resistance), this paper reports a study of teacher stress in 42 elementary school organizations and 45 secondary school organizations. Organizational stress is operationalized as the aggregate average response…

The ways in which teachers' cognitions about classroom practice vary with the developmental level of the children they teach and the subject matter taught were studied through interviews with 40 teachers. Participants were 8 teachers of kindergarten and grade 1, 10 teachers of grade 2, 11 teachers of grade 3, and 11 teachers of grades 4, 5, and 6.…

Multiple demands and pressures on teachers have increased instructor burnout, a state characterized by boredom, depression, envy, and physical and emotional fatigue. In response to the high incidence of burnout, teachers and professors may use a job diversification approach similar to one used in industry to combat boredom and monotony.…

This study employed the authors' previously developed Statements about Schools Inventory (SAS) to assess how well 14 alternative and 11 conventional high schools were meeting the needs of their students. Pairs of alternative and conventional schools studied were located in 11 communities in 10 states. Results of both student and teacher responses…

Sixty-eight kindergarten teachers (from a town in Austria) who had previously labeled selected students in their classes as either aggressive or socially competent completed a questionnaire and were observed in their classroom interactions. The questionnaire yielded biographical and sociographical data of the teachers, assessed teacher attitudes,…

Classroom teachers are affected directly and indirectly by external forces: international, national, social, institutional, pedagogical, economic, commercial, professional, and religious. It is proposed that teachers make use of constructive forces and combat destructive ones by using organizational and individual resources to create change.…

Two elementary school teachers were members of a large sample participating in a study of changing teacher practices through intervention with staff developers. In October, one teacher was transferred to a similar school in another part of the district. The other teacher accepted an assignment in another school at the end of the first semester.…

Because independent reading builds the foundation for long-term literacy, administrators must encourage teachers to create a positive attitude toward independent reading in school. Five guidelines can help influence teachers' attitudes toward independent reading: (1) share valuable information concerning independent reading, including current…

This set of materials is designed to enhance the effectiveness of teachers' uses of structuring statements and questioning strategies. The material is presented as a series of self-directed workshops focusing on teacher-initiated verbal directions and questioning strategies and how these can be used strategically to enhance students' thinking.…

Research has suggested that students have difficulty completing content area writing assignments if the teacher's written instructions are not clear. Students' written work is more likely to be of higher quality if teachers specify the assignment's audience and purpose and offer prewriting instruction. Controversy exists over how explicit the…