Detroit's Peer Teachers as Mirrors and Monitors Project is intended to validate cost effective methods for increasing Academic Learning Time (ALT) for students in grades one through four. A major problem in this research effort has been the design of valid and reliable measures of the components of ALT. One very important component of ALT is…

A study was conducted to determine how 11,400 minutes were spent by 186 students in 10 classes in three secondary vocational education program areas (agricultural education, marketing and distributive education, and trade and industrial education) in seven high schools and area vocational schools in four states. The study attempted to find out how…

A study of beginning college Spanish students' time-on-task in the foreign language classroom is reported. First, appropriate student on-task behaviors were determined, and teacher behaviors influencing or associated with student on-task behavior were defined. An observational instrument for recording and correlating student and teacher behaviors…

In 1983, the National Institute of Education funded the Far West Laboratory for Educational Research and Development to conduct a study, Applying Research to Teacher Education (ARTE) Research Utilization in Elementary Teacher Education (RUETE). The ARTE:RUETE study's purpose is to develop preservice instruction incorporating current research…

An investigation was made to determine the effect of an observation instrument on student teacher performance of Active Teaching Behaviors (ATB) focusing on how the teacher introduces, carries out, and concludes classroom instruction, and how the teacher maintains student engagement. Cooperating teachers were observed teaching mathematics and…

A pilot study attempted to develop a link between research findings and potential users of those findings. A school-based intervention, Changing Teacher Practice (CTP), was developed to teach school leaders, principals, and resource leaders what research has discovered to be effective teaching and effective staff development. CTP was designed to…

This paper reports the case study of a classroom teacher who made systematic and conscious preactive and interactive decisions. Four questions guided the research. The primary question was "Does a teacher use a systematic decision model?" The three secondary questions were: (1) Does this teacher make preactive and interactive decisions?…

This paper focuses primarily on the more prominent teacher characteristics research published in the latter half of the 1980s. Literature on the characteristics of elementary, secondary, and college-level teachers is reviewed. Demographic data suggest that today's public school teachers are older and more experienced, and have more years of…

The Computerized Observation System (COS) is a software program which an observer can use with a portable microcomputer to document preservice and inservice teacher performance. Specific observable behavior such as appropriate questions and responses shown to increase student achievement are recorded as Low Inference Observation Measures. Time on…

Two studies sought to identify variables that might predict relative success in student teaching performance. University supervisors ranked program graduates on overall student teaching success after they had successfully completed all mastery criteria. The first study compared students on achievement test scores, grade point average (GPA), and…

Behavioral differences between Soviet and American foreign language teachers are examined as a basis for improving intercultural understanding and promoting more productive work in the bicultural classroom. The observations are made by American language teachers who have known teachers from both countries as both students and peers. Specific…

Although the physical environment of schools seems to affect the attitude and behavior of students and teachers, there is little scientific proof to support this belief. Two substantial studies have attempted to synthesize available research on the topic. First, an effort by Carol Weinstein has gathered significant data concerning spatial behavior…

A survey of 14 leading language arts, children's literature, and reading methods books, as well as professional journal articles and other notable books on reading to children, yielded a total of eight recommendations made by more than half of the authors, including the following: (1) prepare by previewing the book, (2) read with expression, (3)…

Instructional communication research may be examined from the perspective of teacher effectiveness research, based on three dominant 20th-century philosophical traditions: logical empiricism, interpretive theories, and critical theory. Since at least 1896, scholars have used empirical research methodology (largely "logical empiricism," modeled…

In direct instruction, the teacher, in a face-to-face, reasonably formal manner, tells, shows, models, demonstrates, and teaches the skill to be learned. Therefore, it is the teacher behavior aspect of classroom instruction that underpins the instructional strategy for teaching main ideas. Much has been learned about teacher behaviors that…