The overall assessment of teacher education students by means of testing may not be the best indicator of competence in a professional field. Assessors must possess both valid and reliable ways of discerning which students have the necessary skills to be effective in the classroom. Portfolio analysis is one way to get better, more valid data about…

In an effort to establish a quality middle grades teacher education program that would be responsive to local needs, the Middle Grades Education (MGE) faculty at Georgia's Valdosta State University implemented Reality 401, a field based program, in Fall 1992. The program is a senior year teacher education program designed to provide a…

The purpose of this study was to characterize and compare novice and experienced elementary teachers' pedagogical knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge of three major topics in mathematics: whole number operation, fractions, and geometry. The study participants were 26 preservice elementary teachers and 28 experienced kindergarten through…

This paper presents the latest in a series of studies examining school district report cards. The purpose was to study the relationships among factors reported on school district report cards from Nevada high schools. The 44 categories reported on Nevada's 1993-94 report card represent the study's independent variables, grouped into the areas of…

In 1995, 17 graduate students at the University of Wisconsin attended a summer course titled Education 570: Integrating the Curriculum. This course was based on a constructivist view of knowledge development, and participating teachers represented a wide range of subject areas and grade levels. A study of participating teachers followed 16…

Professional Development Schools (PDS) are designed not only to educate novice teachers but also to be places where university and school faculties can collaborate on research and development. This study, the initial phase of a longitudinal study, attempts to discover if an early PDS experience can develop a stronger beginning teacher than a…

This study was designed to explore an experienced teacher's thinking and teaching within the social and cultural environment of the classroom. It investigated the thinking, planning, subsequent action and reflection processes and relationships in a real situation of learning. A naturalistic approach was used to investigate the socio-cultural…

This annual journal's premier issue features the work, thoughts, adventures, and musings of distinguished and respected teachers. An introduction reports that the journal was born of the desire by faculty to recognize college teaching as a profession and to bring to it its own language and traditions and to establish an academic culture for…

A preservice teacher was interviewed 10 times during his last year of teacher education, when he participated in several mathematics teacher education courses and field experiences, and his first year of high school teaching. The case study was designed to develop an understanding of the teacher development process by considering how one teacher…

This survey measured the experiences of new public school teachers who began their first year of teaching in the 1990-91 school year. It is the third of three surveys of this cohort of new teachers. The current survey focuses on teachers' experiences and attitudes 2 years into their teaching career, and includes questions which allow for…

Six student teachers who were committed to the tenets of whole language were studied to determine how they manifested their whole language perspectives in light of the enabling and constraining factors they faced in their specific field sites. Results indicated that the six student teachers were forced to alter their teaching behaviors…

An educator who teaches physics to grade 12 students and a physics curriculum and methods course to preservice teachers analyzes the impact of context on teaching practice. A paper by A. Richert titled "Voice and Power in Teaching and Learning To Teach" is used as the foundation for interpreting the author's experience of teaching…

This article tells the story of a group of teachers who experienced change in the face of a newly formed professional development school--one that loosely implemented many of the principles associated with the Holmes Group model. Specifically, these teachers became active participants on the Steering Committee, a group formed within the context of…

The attitudes of principals toward ability grouping in the public schools of South Carolina were studied, emphasizing the degree to which principals feel that ability grouping contributes to the quality of education. Also examined were differences in attitudes of elementary school and secondary school principals (black and white, male and female,…

A study was done of novice teachers in California's public education system to examine how well they function in the language diverse metropolitan classrooms. Fall and Spring surveys were administered to 1,368 new teachers, and Spring surveys were administered to the directors of induction projects in which the new teachers participated. Findings…