The Teacher Improvement Model was begun as an Organizational Development Project using the parallel systems approach in a school for emotionally disturbed junior high school students. Teachers volunteered for committee work and requested observations and evaluations in an effort to define and establish a discipline model best suited to them. Such…

A study related the communication responsiveness of instructors to the affective and cognitive outcomes of students in basic speech communication courses. Specifically, the study investigated both the instructors' overall responsiveness and their responsiveness as climate makers. The communication responsiveness of instructors was measured by the…

This document reports on a review of the leadership literature, a cross-sectional correlation study, and a series of in-depth teacher interviews, all of which were parts of an effort to better understand the conditions under which a principal can lead. The correlation study makes use of S. Kerr's theory that the effect of the leader's behavior on…

By analogy, research suggests that training Child Development Associate (CDA) candidates to handle the complexity and autonomy of the early childhood teaching job is likely to have long range effects on the teacher and the early childhood education field. That is, a truly competent teacher behaves professionally and will become increasingly…

This study examined, through retrospective interview data, the interaction between student teacher and mentor teacher during a 16-week practicum experience. The subjects were four teacher-intern pairs in an elementary school. Three models of coaching and teacher behaviors were considered: (1) joint experimentation--helps students formulate…

The program described in this paper was designed to address two sets of questions, one concerning the nature of classroom teaching and learning of science in secondary schools and the other concerning their mechanisms. The program consisted of four phases: (1) "Establishment" (emphasizing trust between teachers and consultants); (2)…

In an attempt to determine the effectiveness of writing assignments in basal reading series and the extent to which teachers used the suggested writing assignments, four fifth grade teachers of reading and their classes were observed for 10 days. Although participants reported that they regularly included written composition in reading…

Following a brief research review regarding the relationship between teacher behavior and student outcomes, a model is proposed for identifying those teaching behaviors that are significantly related to high-quality student performance. The model's stages include: (1) delineation of questions; (2) establishment of a framework; (3) selection of an…

Implemented in an urban community college's child development teacher training program, this practicum project addressed the problem of discrepancies between training and work environments. General goals of the practicum were: (1) to design a learning styles training format for preschool teachers; (2) to provide teachers with factual information…

This study contends that there is a need for improvement of science education in the United States. It argues that although once a national priority, elementary science instruction now receives little emphasis in many schools. Consequently, many elementary students are deprived of an opportunity to build a sound science background for subsequent…

Data analyses and interpretations presented in this report were obtained from a national data set collected for "A Study of Schooling." Elementary teachers (N=286) responded to a questionnaire asking them to indicate the extent to which they agreed or disagreed with 12 statements of educational beliefs concerning teacher control and student…

This document reports on a study designed to determine if there are significant identifiable differences in personality traits of outstanding, regular, and provisional secondary science teachers in Mississippi. Combinations of factors that differentiated the three groups were also investigated. The scores of typical outstanding science teachers…

This study examined the effectiveness of selected coping strategies in dealing with teacher stress in the classroom setting. Factors contributing to teacher burnout, (e.g., class size, school size, student behavior), were also weighed. Data were gathered from 117 elementary and secondary teachers by means of a questionnaire, and the Maslach…

A study was conducted to analyze the role that nonverbal communication plays in classroom climate. A 40-item classroom communication climate questionnaire was developed, and administered to 76 students and 8 teachers to determine its reliability and validity. After several changes and deletions, the final version of the questionnaire was…

Teacher performance areas, criteria for evaluating them, and specific descriptors of behavior satisfying each criterion are supplied in this document. Performance areas and criteria for teacher evaluation were selected by the five school districts participating in the School Improvement Model project. The teacher performance areas selected for…