Teachers in low socioeconomic status minority schools face some special problems in establishing productive learning climates within their classrooms. The beginning of the school year can be crucial to teaching success in these schools. Case studies are presented of three different teachers teaching in a single low socioeconomic, minority junior…

The object of this module is to increase teachers' understanding of the function of role model play in their students' development and to aid teachers in identifying the types of role models that can open options for students. A four-step process is presented for teachers to use in facilitating their students' identification with nontraditional…

Elementary teachers read vignettes depicting incidents involving (fictional) students who presented chronic behavior problems, and then told how they would respond if the incidents occurred in their classrooms. Responses were coded for attributions about the students and about the teacher's roles in causing and remediating the problem. Teachers…

Teacher education programs have often attempted to make teachers more rational by use of apriori models. These models poorly correspond to teachers' thinking styles. Three distinct reactions to this problem have occurred. One proposed solution is to break the apriori model into separate component skills and to train teachers in each skill. A…

A critique of research attempting to determine student achievement by identifying the characteristics and resources of schools is offered. It is pointed out that frequently the academic achievement of students is related to the socioeconomic status of the general student population of the school. The suggestion is made that future research should…

Twenty children, one boy and one girl in each of ten second grade classrooms from four different experimental programs, were each observed over the course of a single school day. Each 30 second interval of approximately 80 hours of transcribed behavior stream observation was analyzed to determine whether the teacher, the learner, or the teacher…

A training model for the use of rational behavior therapy (RBT) with emotionally disturbed adolescents in a school setting is presented, including a structured, didactic format consisting of five basic RBT training techniques. The training sessions, lasting 10 weeks each, are described. Also presented is the organization for the actual classroom…

Teacher achievement expectation effects were investigated for third- and fourth-graders (24 boys and 24 girls, each grade) in open and traditional classrooms. The main and interaction effects of teacher achievement expectation (High/Low), class type (Open/Traditional), sex of child and grade level on students' behavior and teacher-student…

This study examined the influence of male teachers on the development of 4-year-old, middle-class children, with emphasis on the development of boys. The subjects were 55 boys and 54 girls in 13 nursery classes, taught by teams containing either two female teachers or one male and one female teacher. Pre- and post-tests were administered to…

The determinants of student attrition in institutions of higher education were investigated. A causal model was developed which synthesized research findings on turnover in work organizations and on student attrition. Questionnaires were distributed to university freshmen (N=1171). The data was analyzed using multiple regression and path analysis.…

Classroom interaction may be described in terms of communication events, i.e., sequences of teacher-pupil communicative behaviors separated from preceding and succeeding sequences of behaviors by natural boundaries. Communication events may be institutional (related to managing the classroom and meeting the expectations of the institution), task…

One of 52 theoretical papers on school crime and its relation to poverty, this chapter is essentially a study of the relations between delinquency and the school system in Britain and an analysis of the extent to which British experience is relevant to the study of delinquency in the United States and in Canada. There is little serious crime in…

An Approach to formative evaluation is described that attempts to actively involve students and explore the meaning of processes, activities, and performances in terms of the wide variety of students' perceptions and responses. When poor student performance is not attributable to lack of effort or ability, the need for a more personal…

The way that factors in the social environment regulate both the rates and differential modes of deviance among various groups within the school is examined. Using Mertonian analysis, three premises are central to the study including: (1) pressures to deviate occur when people are deprived of access to legitimate means to attain a desired goal;…

The importance of appropriate task relevant behaviors as a necessary condition for school learning has long been noted. This paper suggests a multiple measure of one set of student classroom behaviors, presents a brief theoretical basis for the measure, provides some empirical support for the use of the measure, and indicates some educational…