College teachers' personality traits were grouped into 14 clusters of traits. Only 4 of 14 trait clusters showed statistically significant average correlations between the teacher's personality traits and students' overall evaluations. Studies measuring traits by the perception of the teacher's students or colleagues found statistically…

Suggests that an analysis of spontaneous speech collected in a simulation can provide insight into the way messages are produced and understood. Describes an experiment which used this technique to study the linguistic performance and communication strategies in anglophone children learning French. (SED)

Reports on a study which attempted to discover what types of experience former English-an-a-second-language students perceived as having contributed most to their language learning in intensive language programs; what qualities of teacher behavior contributed most; and what types of language use predominated in their academic work. (SED)

Describes foundation and development of a performance-based teacher evaluation method developed in Missouri which makes mastery learning the basis for outcomes of instruction. Eight discrete parts of the teaching act characterizing successful teaching, four criteria important in performance-based evaluation development, and four definable phases…

Facet design and smallest space analysis were used to study teaching behaviors. From a questionnaire administered to 2,000 high school students, a set of 25 structuples were selected which repeatedly described teachers' instructional behavior. Results supported the usefulness of this approach. (GDC)

Briefly describes the characteristics of video games and discusses some advantages and disadvantages of their use to measure individual abilities. Relevant research is cited in the areas of stabilization with practice, predictive testing, performance testing, testing under extreme conditions, testing brain-injured persons, and differential…

This study of individual differences in performance of a geometric analogies task included four-alternative test items and studied eye movements and confidence judgments as well as latency and error. Results were interpreted using two hypothesized performance strategies: constructive matching and response elimination. (Author/BW)

Students were asked to rate several hypothetical instructor profiles, constructed by systematically manipulating information about the instructors' classroom behaviors. Factor analyses were performed where factors represented clusters of semantically equivalent items. Students imposed an implicit semantic organization on their ratings, apart from…

This study investigated how classroom teaching behavior mediates the relationship between personality and college teaching effectiveness. Instructional effectiveness was measured by end-of-term student ratings. Path analysis revealed that approximately half of the relationship between personality and teaching effectiveness was mediated by…

Three examples of evaluation forms that music teachers can use to have students evaluate them and their music programs are provided. Teachers should use the evaluation results to make changes for self- and program-improvement. Teachers should let students know what changes are being made. (RM)

If public schools would emulate private schools in the following four inexpensive ways, they would enhance their chance of survival: (1) involve parents better, (2) increase expectations for students, (3) seek financial support to enhance school operation, and (4) advertise better. (DCS)

Investigates (1) the relationships between cognitive performance and cognitive styles and predictive possibilities and (2) performance differences by sex, school, grade, and income in 92 Indian adolescents. Assessment measures included Liquid Conservation, Islands, Goat-Lion, Hanoi-Tower, Rabbits (Piagetian); Block Design (WISC-R); Paper Cutting…

This article advances an attributional theory of motivation and emotion, with achievement strivings as the theoretical focus. Causes of success and failure share three common properties: locus, stability, and controllability. Stability of causes influences changes in expectancy of success. Expectancy and affect guide motivated behavior.…

A competency-based systems approach to job training is presented that ensures that trainees are taught the knowledge and skills essential for successful job performance. The procedural model for this instructional system is comprised of five phases: analyze, design, develop, implement, and control. Each phase is described in detail. (CT)

To determine the cause of the reading achievement gap between language minority students (Hispanic) and nonlanguage minority students, language background, socioeconomic status (SES), and ethnicity in the High School and Beyond data set were analyzed. Language background and SES/ethnicity were found to be equally accountable for the gap. (MM)