Using a segment of one program from a series of videotaped staff development programs as a data base, this paper investigates the nature of the relationship involved in peer coaching. The segment is a model interview between two teachers who are engaged in a peer coaching program. The series, Coaching for Improved Teaching, promotes the idea that…

This document describes seven science activities that combine scientific principles and computers. The objectives for the activities are to show students how the computer can be used as a tool to store and arrange scientific data, provide students with experience using the computer as a tool to manage scientific data, and provide students with…

Three articles on current research in testing are presented. The first article, "Testing in the Schools", discusses the role of testing in educational reform. In the 1980s, the overwhelming purpose of state standardized testing has become promoting accountability in areas of: (1) monitoring; (2) gatekeeping; (3) remediation; and (4)…

School administrators' uses of subjective understandings and common language to gain and maintain power and predictability in their environments are described. Micropolitical theory, with a focus on language, is utilized to understand administrators' knowledge of the assumptive worlds of their subculture, and how these assumptive worlds constrain…

This report documents historically the impact of postsecondary forestry and forest-products educational programs in the southern United States. Samples of programs described concentrate on programs that appear to have had an effect on the economy, the resource, or policy. The report discusses the impacts of two types of institutions: the 16…

The following papers are included: "Focusing Agricultural Education Research" (Williams); "A Time Series Analysis of Agricultural Education Student Teachers' Perceptions of Agricultural Mechanics Laboratory Management Competencies" (Schumacher, Johnson); "Determination of the Agricultural Mechanics Laboratory Management Inservice Needs of Missouri…

A basic technical framework is provided for the design and use of mastery tests. The Mastery Testing Project (MTP) prepared this framework using advanced mathematics supplemented with computer simulation based on real test data collected by the South Carolina Statewide Testing Program. The MTP focused on basic technical issues encountered in using…

Intended to clarify the nature of the curriculum debate and to indicate the issues that need to be considered when formulating curriculum policy, this paper begins with a review of the educational reasons for using the New Information and Communication Technologies (NICT) and the thinking and experiences which lie behind them. Ways in which the…

In June 1990, a statewide telephone survey was conducted of 1,200 former full- and part-time Michigan community college students who had not returned for classes in fall 1989. The 29 colleges were classified as urban, suburban, and regional institutions, and a total of 200 former full-time and 200 former part-time students were contacted from each…

This paper brings together information on the conditions and needs of children who have been exposed to drugs, federal programs that affect the well-being of these children, and policy questions that need resolution. Discussion concerns: (1) characteristics of infants who have been exposed to drugs and their families, including prevalence and…

The New Zealand Technical Correspondence Institute studied the internal and external factors influencing adult students enrolled in a tertiary-level distance education management course to abandon their studies. A literature review afforded definitions of: (1) distance education; (2) educational technology; and (3) drop out. Although research has…

Six papers on the relationship of language and culture in the Australian Aboriginal context are presented. "Some Thoughts on Yanyuwa Language and Culture" by Jean Kirton gives an overview of some language-culture relationships and examines seven kinds of possession in one language. "Nyangumarta Kinship: A Woman's Viewpoint" by…

A shortage of certified and qualified science and mathematics teachers is one of the most visible and critical problems faced by our nation's schools. Because of the various approaches taken by different groups and agencies to solve the problem, the Improvement of Science and Mathematics Team (ISME) of the National Institute of Education (NIE) was…

This volume contains the appendices for the report on the Teacher Efficacy Study, an investigation of teachers' sense of efficacy and the extent to which teachers believe they can have a positive effect on student learning and achievement. Included in this volume are: (1) middle school site descriptions; (2) the middle school questionnaire; (3)…

A study investigated the effect of instruction about conventional expository text structure on fifth-graders' ability to learn from similarly structured social studies material. Subjects, 82 fifth graders from four heterogeneous classrooms in two schools in a small midwestern city, were assigned to either a structure training group which received…