West Virginia University provides on-the-job practicum experience to rural special education teachers who are pursuing certification while working on "out-of-field" permits. An important aspect of the competency-based practicum experience is evaluative feedback. Two methods of evaluative feedback were used with 22 practicum students who…

Classrooms in our nation's schools reflect an "assembly-line model" of work in which the educational product is a set of students' performance and abilities learned in school. Contemporary educators are critical of the old factory model and seek to replace it by classrooms whose goals are to learn and to develop knowledge. Studied is the…

This study surveyed a sample of 81 former students from the graduate research methods course in the School of Education and Related Professional Studies at Rowan College (New Jersey), between 1985 and 1992. The findings show that while students who have completed a research methods course at the graduate level find the content useful, especially…

This paper emphasizes the significance of cultural diversity in American schools and its implications for the teaching and learning processes. Also highlighted is the importance of the realization that diversity is what makes the United States unique. The paper discusses the cultural dynamics of clashes and conflicts as well as of cooperation and…

The Curriculum And Research for Equity (C-A-R-E) program materials are inservice teacher training modules (workshops, curricula, references, and research data) designed to promote educational equity in elementary school classrooms. The training manual is intended to help elementary education professionals identify, assess, and rectify the problem…

Tennessee's Student/Teacher Achievement Ratio project (Project STAR) was designed to study the effects of class size on pupils in primary (K-3) grades. Responses of Project STAR teachers (N=1,003) to the annual Teacher Exit Interview are summarily reported for 1986 through 1989. Generally, the perceptions of teachers in small classes, in regular…

This five-part paper examines the role of teacher unions in Australian education at the state level. An overview describes the organizational strength of Australia's teacher unions. Part 1, "Teacher Union Growth," presents a history, and part 2, "Teacher Unions and State Education," interprets issues involving unions and…

A study of three first grade teachers, who were interviewed and observed in the classroom setting, demonstrates a link between teachers' plans for action that they have developed over years of teaching and their routine management of students during reading. Both management and instructional goals, embedded in teacher beliefs about learning and…

Using a series of regression equations, classroom process and student achievement data from 136 junior high school mathematics and English classes were analyzed to answer the following questions: (1) Are the classroom behaviors and achievement levels of students systematically different across classes of higher and lower ability? (2) Within…

This paper summarizes current knowledge from research on teacher effectiveness and discusses the relationship between those findings and educational policy. Few teaching strategies have been studied in different types of environments, so validated knowledge on teacher effectiveness exists for only a few issues. Research findings discussed include:…

Beginning with general observations on the human element in excellent teaching that often goes unnoticed by researchers, this speaker provides a wide range of suggestions for making more effective use of class time. These suggestions pertain to monitoring time on and off task, classroom organization and planning, making assignments, clarifying…

The purpose of this study was to explore middle school students' perceptions of what factors facilitated their learning of science. Between 50 and 60 high-achieving middle school students were in residence on the University of South Florida campus for 12 consecutive days of study in the "World of Water" program. There were two sessions per summer…

The purpose of this study was to explore the utility of the Theory of Planned Behavior for predicting the behavioral intentions of teachers enrolled in the Institute in Physical Science. The study investigated three determinants of teachers' behavioral intentions set forth in the theory of planned behavior, namely attitude toward the behavior,…

The development of an English version of a Dutch instrument--the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI)--that measures interpersonal teacher behavior (TB) is described. Using this instrument, comparisons were made between Dutch and American interpersonal TB. Students' perceptions of TB were used to measure TB. The QTI was first translated into…

The School Within A School (SWAS) Program is designed to help low-achieving high school students improve their academic achievement. This evaluation examined five program aspects: implementation; achievement; self concept; perceptions of students, teachers, coordinators and principals; and student attendance. Student team learning and individual…