While evaluation conditions made little difference in the quality of the fourth graders' drawings, their effect on continuing motivation was significant. The threat of grades and peer comparisons was detrimental to continuing motivations. Students who evaluated their own performance were the most motivated. (Author/RM)

The Army Research Institute developed and made operational a computer-based maintenance performance management information system that monitors technical activities of maintenance personnel. The implications of data from eight months of system operation for training programs, training material development, estimating manning requirements,…

Types of faculty evaluation methods and criteria are examined, and a technique for the use of criterion referenced student evaluation of teacher performance is detailed. The system, called Assessment for Instructional Development, draws on earlier evaluation theory but is adapted to correct linguistic, statistical, and methodological problems.…

Teacher clarity and its effects on student achievement were investigated in a study of high school social studies students. Groups were defined by possible combinations of two teacher uncertainty conditions, two teacher "bluffing" conditions, and two lecture note conditions. Results are discussed. (Author/DF)

An investigation to address the issue of which objective factor would predict performance during the postgraduate year residency and to determine whether the performance of applicants from honors-pass-fail schools was predictable is reported. (MLW)

Children with language deficiencies in grades two through four received instruction in listening comprehension. One-half of the children in each grade verbalized explicit strategies prior to applying them to questions. Strategy self-verbalization led to high self-efficacy across grades and promoted performance among third and fourth graders.…

Five questions relating to the management of incompetent teachers are answered: (1) What is incompetence? (2) How can the administrator help the incompetent teacher? (3) How can principals prove incompetence during dismissal hearings? (4) What kinds of resources are needed? and (5) Why is managing incompetent teachers worth the effort? (PGD)

Reviews the history and conclusions of school effectiveness research, which focuses on student achievement, and of school improvement research, which emphasizes educational innovation per se; analyzes the methodologies of these two lines of inquiry. Distills from both bodies of literature seven school characteristics that constitute excellence.…

The efficacy of student ratings is examined through existing research, and it is concluded that although the ratings are generally reliable and valid indicators of teaching effectiveness and are not strongly influenced by extraneous factors, additional independent evaluation means are needed. (MSE)

Sources of bias in students' ratings of college faculty raise questions about the use of these ratings in making personnel decisions that affect the teacher's professional career. Student ratings should be only one component of the evidence collected to evaluate the effectiveness of college faculty. (PP)

Suggests a legally grounded process for determining adequate performance standards while posing the fewest legal and logistical problems for schools. Addresses issues of accountability, promotion and retention, teachers' concerns, student/parent concerns, and relevant legal issues in developing and implementing appropriate standards. Various types…

Recounting experiences of teaching both middle-upper class students at a private, residential university and middle-working-lower class students at a public, commuting university, the author found that both student types prefer an authoritarian teacher who also offers some opportunity for personal compulsion in the classroom. (ND)

Grades which professors gave their students were related with ratings those students gave their professors. Students' grades were found to influence their ratings of faculty, accounting for approximately 9 percent of the total variance. (MV)

In general, the more knowledgeable the student in an area, the higher his ratings of courses and instructors in that area. Significant interactions among the four main effects were also found across the judgmental dimensions students utilized in evaluating instruction. (Author/LBH)

Research increasingly points to the relationship between effective leadership and increased student achievement. But just what constitutes effective leadership-and how to best support school leaders-has been a matter of both study and speculation. This policy brief draws on McREL's leadership research and an analysis of the needs in McREL's…