An overview is presented of classroom observation instruments which have been created and refined since 1962. The components of teacher-pupil transactions measured by different observation methods are listed, and the complexities and difficulties encountered when using the instruments are discussed. A description is given of the Coping Analysis…

Historically, preservice teacher education programs have not provided their students, in a systematic manner, with knowledge, methods, or practice to produce effective classroom management. A systematic approach to classroom management is recommended that would deal with advance planning and preparation before the school year, and the…

The problems of education in an inner city environment seem intractable, but this book offers a hopeful prescription. It argues that the problems have appeared insoluble in part because observers have been more committed to certain ideological, methodological, and theoretical fashions than to understanding what might work. On the basis of…

Intended to help teachers assess the effectiveness of their reading program, this paper suggests how teachers can emphasize comprehension in reading, what behaviors students demonstrate related to getting and creating meaning when reading, and how the classroom environment can promote reading for meaning. After describing effective teacher and…

A study examined multiple outcomes of relaxation training simultaneously in seventh grade classrooms. "Project Relaxation" measured cognitive (achievement) and affective (discipline, attendance, tardiness, and self-concept) changes with a program of relaxation training for 532 seventh grade students in 10 private and public middle schools in South…

This study reports on work activities structures, student social cognitive understanding, and student participation as ecological perspectives from which to describe and analyze the teaching that took place in one elementary school. Detailed descriptions of the ecological features of 10 elementary school classrooms are presented, and an…

This project paper reports the interobserver agreements and reliabilities for the observation procedures used in the Descriptive Study of Phase IV of the Individually Guided Education Evaluation Project. Only data from four observers--at the two Developing Mathematical Processes Schools and the two Wisconsin Design for Reading Skills Development…

The literature on personal development, student involvement and satisfaction is reviewed in the following categories: the warrant for personal development as a desirable college outcome; conceptual and theoretical foundations of personal development; empirical research on personal development during college; the undergraduate experience;…

This observational study examined student and teacher verbal and nonverbal behaviors in microcomputer classrooms in a high school where most of the students are Black, Hispanic, or Asian, and almost half of them are classified as economically disadvantaged. A total of 125 students in grades 9 to 12 were observed, with 47 students in marketing, 18…

Previous studies indicate significant behavior and social/emotional differences between divorced and intact family children in favor of the latter group. Sex and age of the children appear to yield different responses to the stress of divorce. This study expands previous studies by: (1) focusing on a rural population; (2) examining the effect of…

This practicum was designed to enhance methods and procedures used with 15 low-achieving, disinterested, and disruptive seventh grade students assigned to a middle school's alternative education program. The primary goal of the practicum was to increase students' responsibility for their own actions and their attention to learning. A secondary…

Six learning-disabled second-grade resource room students with auditory deficits had poor listening skills that inhibited their attention to directions and their accurate completion of assignments. Using a curriculum which incorporated visual, auditory, and kinesthetic modalities, the practicum project encouraged and motivated the children and…

Both Mexican American and Anglo students in four Corpus Christi (Texas) high schools seek membership in various subcultures according to which one recognizes them as being socially competent and respectable human beings. Data consist of life history interviews, observations, and questionnaire responses from over 600 youth. Mexican American…

A portable minicomputer collected data about elementary and secondary social studies teachers' oral questions and the subsequent verbal behaviors of the teachers and the students. Data indicated that literal types of questions were posed most often by teachers at the rate of l.5 per minute, and the duration of the students' answers was associated…

Four general types of literature related to school effectiveness are reviewed in this paper and the more consistent research findings synthesized. The literature types considered are case studies (descriptions of effective schools), comparative studies (comparisons of effective and ineffective schools), program evaluations (examinations of…