Research indicates that peer interaction can have a substantial impact on the lives of adolescents with disabilities. However, social interaction among adolescents with intellectual disabilities and their general education peers typically occurs infrequently in secondary schools. This paper provides a critical analysis of twenty-six empirical…

Alternative assessment not only offers the opportunity to assess what students know, it also can more fully engage students in their own learning. When properly implemented, alternative assessment has the potential to: be a useful classroom tool, stimulate student participation; form a communication bridge with parents; and measure specific types…

This paper presents information regarding two university field programs in two elementary schools in New Orleans (Louisiana), serving culturally diverse children, and it attempts to reveal the influences of each school context on preservice teachers' acquisition of pedagogical content knowledge, their concerns and dilemmas, and their frames of…

Effective classroom simulations can provide opportunities for end-users to analyze human teaching and learning behaviors and can also help prepare teachers for real-world experiences. This paper proposes a simulation project based on an aggregation of ideas associated with knowledge-based simulations, behavior observations, visualization, and the…

This synthesis of research on alternative assessment methods in teacher education reviews literature on performance assessment, describing the various types of assessment discussed by M. Priestley (1982), including: (1) actual performance assessments (work-sample tests, identification tests, supervisor ratings, peer ratings, and self-assessments);…

The "Practice Teaching Portfolio" is one component of an authentic assessment system for evaluating student teachers that has been implemented in nine professional development schools associated with the University of Memphis. Designed to develop an authentic record of the student teachers' performance, the system combines full lesson…

As part of the Louisiana state teacher assessment program to enhance student learning, this manual provides suggestions and resources for teacher practice keyed to attributes of the "Louisiana Components of Effective Teaching." Each of these attributes is accompanied by suggested strategies, evidence of completion, and resources. The…

Materials from a training session on assessing teaching effectiveness via a clinical supervision model are presented. The historical development of classroom observations and instruments is summarized, and the five-step method of clinical supervision (Goldhammer, 1969) is detailed. One step toward the improvement of classroom instruction through…

A study investigated the benefits to three practicing teachers of the experience of being observed by preservice teacher trainees. Information was drawn from teacher journal entries concerning this experience, observations by the student teachers, and conversation among teachers and between teachers and preservice observers. Specifically, the…

This document, part of a series of papers which describe the assessment of student learning in various aspects of the South Carolina curriculum from prekindergarten through grade 12, focuses on the assessment of student learning in the social studies classroom. It begins with an overview of current curriculum goals in social studies education and…

This facilitator's guide, and the videotape it accompanies, is designed to demonstrate ways in which the new visions of science education for the 21st century might be translated into classroom practice. The National Research Council's (NRC) National Science Education Standards, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Benchmarks…

In 1978, a mentor committee was established at Sinclair Community College (SCC) in Ohio to develop and implement a system to provide part-time faculty with mentors and to assist with their development in becoming qualified and highly effective part-time instructors. In addition, the committee established general policies relating to the…

The Puerto Rican language-culture nexus is seen as the natural field where young Puerto Ricans forge their ethnic identities. Ethnographic theory and methods were used to study this nexus from a naturalistic perspective. A focus group of 12 Puerto Rican 8th grade students (9 males and 3 females) attending a school within 1 Puerto Rican barrio in…

A descriptive study examined the relationships between what young children learned about written language in the home and their parents' levels of literacy ability and their uses of print in their lives. Twenty-four children, aged 4-6, in 20 families of low socioeconomic status were observed during their waking hours in their homes and communities…

The purpose of this ethnographic study was to determine the norms and rules of behavior in a multi-ethnic seventh-grade classroom in an inner-city school. Data were gathered through classroom observations and interviews with the teacher. The teacher in this class stressed ethnic pride, and because the majority of the students (as well as the…