This study attempted to identify, by contrasting examples of junior high school math teachers' styles and teaching effectiveness, context-specific teacher activity structures and behaviors that effectively begin an instructional session. Methodology and results are discussed. (Author/JL)

This study examined the professional preparation, perceptions, career aspirations, instructional aims, and practices of 31 art teachers in seven community agencies in order to gain insight into the nature of art teachers and art teaching in nonschool programs. (JDH)

This study, conducted in three elementary schools, examined several merit pay issues: (1) the congruence of teachers' ratings of themselves and their peers with principals' ratings; (2) teacher confidence in the ratings by themselves, their peers, and their principals; and (3) the relationship of teaching experience, teacher rating, and teacher…

When making collective educational decisions, junior high school teachers drew only on personal classroom experiences. This exclusion of nonclassroom experience, e.g., parenting, revealed not so much an unawareness of other perspectives but a shared cultural valuation of classroom experience to the exclusion of virtually all other kinds of…

Teachers attending a 5-week in-service retraining course completed a survey asking them to rate their current competencies and training needs in 24 variables (N = 210). Intuitively, teacher competencies and their perceived needs of retraining should be negatively correlated. However, the correlations between teacher competencies and perceived…

This autobiography relates the early teaching experiences of Kentucky teacher and author Jesse Stuart (1906-1984). Barely 17 years old, he first taught in a one-room, isolated rural school in eastern Kentucky for $60 a month. His 35 barefoot students in the eight grades ranged in age from 5 to 20 years. The students' passion for learning…

Jesse Stuart, poet, novelist, lecturer, teacher, principal, superintendent, educational reformer, and farmer, approached education as a calling or sacred quest. In his books he portrays the teacher as a devoted liberator and nurturer, a hero rescuing children and their families from decline, illiteracy, or economic instability. Stuart's…

Tables in this report present characteristics of professional staff employed in the Maryland public schools as of October 1998. The data were obtained from employment records provided by local education agencies and teacher certification records. Professional staff members include principals and assistant principals, teachers, librarians, guidance…

This report presents findings from an evaluation of Philadelphia's Children Achieving reform agenda, which was designed to improve the Philadelphia public schools. Between 1995-1996 and 2000-2001, interviews were conducted with hundreds of teachers, principals, parents, students, district officials, and civic leaders. Researchers sat in on…

This document reports the results of a study that assessed the effects of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) on students' skills and knowledge. The study analyzes the effect of using ICT on students' skills, motivation, and attitudes, and describes teachers' experiences with and views on the potential of ICT. (YDS)

This paper uses data from the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) to examine two main facets of teacher qualifications: teacher certification and degree level. After noting the importance of teacher qualifications to student achievement and to public confidence in the educational system, Section 1 looks at sources of partly certified teachers. One…

This study examined the evolution of the accuracy/thoroughness of novice through expert teachers' recall of their own and their students' specific classroom behaviors, investigating the relationship of their recall to the frequency and levels of their reflection and using findings to determine the impact of their recall on their effectiveness in…

This study followed Sternberg and Horvath's (1995) prototype view to sketch a teaching expertise schema as the hypothetical model. An interview of 13 novice, beginning, and expert teachers was used to examine the adequacy of the model. The participants were asked to comment on slides of classroom events. Their think-out-loud protocols were coded…

This paper compares and contrasts the author's adult learning experiences with those of another adult learner in order to understand the inter-relationship between the domains of education and "work and love" (Merriam, 1993) imbedded in adult development theory. The author interviewed a female colleague of similar age and place of…

Approaches to teacher education are examined to determine their relative emphasis on practice and theory, and are criticized for divorcing theory from practice. A new approach is needed that would enable student teachers to relate theory and practice from an analysis of their classroom experiences. Appendices demonstrate this approach. (PP)