This study examined the actual content of meetings concerning the development of Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) for preschool children with developmental delays or visual impairments. Meetings concerning a total of 23 children in each of three programs were examined. In this study, researchers recorded and transcribed preschool…

Indepth studies of micropolitics at the school level are presented in this book, which includes nine qualitative studies of school politics conducted by different researchers. Chapters 2 through 10 examine the formal and informal processes and structures that constitute everyday political life in the schools. The studies explore how individuals…

Discourse analysis describes a level of spoken text that lies between grammar and nonlinguistic organization. Using such an approach to understand the practical problems of communication in supervisory conferences, this paper explores two dimensions of the conference: risk and politeness levels. Level of risk is determined by the degrees of…

One of the main advantages of the naturalistic approach to classroom research is that the observations are of natural phenomena, occuring in circumstances which the researcher ultimately hopes to generalize. Some problem areas are associated with this approach, however. Observers must obtain complete and accurate records of classroom activities…

A study examined variation in code choice in the same speakers in two contrasting situations--interorganizational and intraorganizational bargaining. Naturalistic interactions between teams of teacher's union bargaining agents, role-playing teachers, and school board members in the two settings were coded, using measures of structural and lexical…

Since there is general agreement that all teachers do not produce the same amount of learning even when provided with similar or identical classes and teaching conditions, this study attempted to determine the relationships between specific teacher behaviors and pupil-on-task-performance. (Author/RK)

This ethnographic study of a self-contained classroom of eight-, nine-, and ten-year-olds examined sexual differences in peer interactions. Within the observed classroom, males and females established separate social systems which had only limited contact with each other. Males were found to interact with significantly more classmates than…

Explores the predictability of friendly, cooperative behavior of school children over a 5-week period. The basis for the predictions was the children's others-concept, as measured by the Paired Hands Test. In three tasks out of five the high others-concept children showed a higher frequency and greater proportion of task-related and friendly…

This study focuses on the local school board as an example of a small decision-making group involved in political decision-making. School boards in Kentucky (n=57) were included in the sample. Examined in particular the concepts of conflict and cohesion between school board members. (Author/EJT)

Offers some conversational suggestions (modeled on a typical day in the life of the preschool) intended to motivate children to communicate and to build a better relationship between pupil and teacher. (Author/ED)

Provides a simplified method of self-evaluation of lessons taught which is inexpensive and requires little training before utilization. (CP)

Nineteen socially isolated preschool children were exposed either to four videotapes in which social skills were modeled (treatment) or to four sequences of a nature film (control). Observations indicated that treatment produced increases in the frequency with which subjects dispensed and received social reinforcement and the frequency of social…

This paper aims to accomplish several purposes through conceptual analysis, story telling and interpretation, excursions into philosophy, and recent studies of teachers' professional development. First, the paper identifies limitations and confusions in current conceptions of teachers' professional thinking: equating teacher thinking with planning…

An ethnographic approach is taken to describe the development of student critical thinking in the Pittsburgh Discussion Project, focusing primarily on discussion experiences in three classes (one college-bound 9th-grade class and two mainstream 11th-grade classes) over the school year. Weekly discussions were audiotaped, and interviews were…

A study examined the relationship between interaction involvement--a kind of communication competence--and communication behavior in a negotiation setting. Subjects, 120 college students, completed the Interaction Involvement Scale and were placed in same-sex dyads of three types: (1) mixed dyads of one high- and one low-involved subject; (2)…