Describes a study that attempted to quantify and model how teachers' perceptions of educational policy influenced their classroom practice. Investigated the interrelationships among theorized factors--such as perceptions of preservice education, class size, and university entrance exams--believed to influence teachers' approval of communicative…

In this article, the author reports on the use of classroom instructors and full-time professional teaching assistants called "course tutors" for teaching business communication to large groups at an undergraduate university. The author explains how to recruit course tutors, what course tutors do in the classroom, and the advantages and…

Value-added models, which rate schools for effectiveness while taking into account the poverty and other socioeconomic status of the students, are generating increased interest. This paper describes the use of one such model to evaluate whether school ratings changed when three new programs were introduced: the "Target Teach" curriculum…

We examined direct and interaction effects of learners' characteristics (cognitive ability, prior knowledge, prior experience, and motivation to learn) and classroom characteristics (videoconferencing and class size) on learning from a 16-week course. A 2x2 quasi-experimental design varied the class size between large (approximately 60 students)…

The article presents the successful experience of teaching the basic International Business (IB) undergraduate class, in an interactive way and in classes of more than 200 students. The approach follows modified routines taught in AACSB workshops for much smaller audiences and capitalizes on 5-member student teams. The format has been used for…

Student course evaluations were completed by 1,457 students in 43 Child and Family Development courses. The impact of six predictor variables (class meeting time, class size, expected grade, perceived fairness of grading procedures, pre-course interest in the subject, and post-course interest in the subject) on student ratings of instructors was…

Although there has been a considerable amount of work evaluating the effects of different (non-traditional) instructional styles, inquiries into students' preferences of instructional style have been few. From 1998-2001, we surveyed introductory statistics students regarding various aspects of their class preferences, especially the teaching style…

A cacophony of voices is continuing to place mandates on education and yet the voices of teachers are seldom heard. Teacher education can attempt to address this issue by facilitation of advocacy experiences via service-learning. The experiential and transformative nature of service-learning is illustrated through three case studies in which…

It is widely assumed that increasing the number of teaching assistants (TAs) in the classroom will be beneficial to children, and this is one important aim of the recently implemented Workforce Agreement. But there are still significant gaps in knowledge about many aspects of their deployment and impact. The Class Size and Pupil-Adult Ratios…

The purpose of "Focus" is to provide coverage of poverty-related research, events, and issues, and to acquaint a large audience with the work of the Institute for Research on Poverty by means of short essays on selected pieces of research. This issue features articles drawn from four of the conference papers presented at the September 2007 IRP…

In February 1993 the Buffalo Financial Plan Commission was asked to conduct a financial and management assessment of the Buffalo (New York) public schools. The effort involved the work of 115 volunteers from 75 businesses and community organizations in the Buffalo area. Thirty-four recommendations were produced, which were expected to yield annual…

This paper discusses the nature and implications of problems that language teachers believe to exist in excessively large classes. A review of the literature on class size indicates three categories of problems, namely pedagogical, management, and affective. Pedagogical problems include: difficulties with speaking, reading, and writing tasks;…

Spring 1983 course registration data are presented for regular credit programs at the six Hawaii community colleges (i.e., Honolulu, Kapiolani, Kauai, Leeward, Maui, and Windward). Table 1 provides a course registration summary by campus, contrasting fall 1981, spring 1982, fall 1982, and spring 1983 data on numbers of courses, classes, and…

Four surveys conducted in Japan investigated teacher and student attitudes about second language instruction in large classes. The first three surveys, conducted at a university and at secondary and university teacher seminars in three cities, elicited information concerning actual and preferred class size, institutional policies concerning class…

Provided are findings of a survey of public school districts conducted by the Public School Early Childhood Study, a 30-month, three-phase investigation of the involvement of public schools in the delivery of early childhood programs. The district survey was designed to answer two basic questions: (1) What kinds of early childhood programs do…