The purpose of this two-phase study, guided by the theory and method of interpretive interactionism, is to describe how family day care providers perceive and implement their caregiving intentions and practices. In phase 1 of the study, data were obtained from interviews with 31 providers and in phase 2, observations of 6 providers over a 10-month…

The ways in which principal belief systems develop in relation to superintendent role expectations for principals are described in this paper. Methodology included a literature review and participant observation during a 6-month field study to generate grounded theory. Findings indicate that superintendents' communication of role expectations to…

Two studies investigated the modification of tasks by students in different public school settings. The first study examined task modification in physical education settings and the second study considered task modification by learning disabled students in a resource room and in two mainstream settings. In study 1 a systematic observation system…

This pilot study explored teacher characteristics as they influenced the use of "Exploring Nepal," a cognitive learning-based interactive video system for middle school students. Specifically, the study sought to narrow down a variety of teacher characteristics that may influence the quality of their interaction with the videodisk. The…

Pretend play and language growth are related through representational thought. Fundamental to representational thought are five connectives, at the theoretical level, which link pretend play and language growth: motor actions, roles and role changes, creative expression, concentration, and decentration. At the research level, results of selected…

Collected here are a number of varied materials on school supervision intended for secondary principals. These include a brief description of a presentation concerning school supervision; a number of visual aids, checklists, charts, and outlines used in the presentation; a short paper on the logistics of Supervision through Educational Management…

This study examined how different elementary school teachers learn to observe and make practical sense of what happens in their classrooms daily. The major focus of the study was on: (1) how teachers' ways of seeing are learned and how they change across years of experience in teaching and within each school year; (2) how what teachers come to…

Findings of this study of the managerial behavior of special education principals are compared with findings of other studies of managerial behavior of elementary and secondary principals. Mintzberg's theoretical model of administrative behavior (1973) was applied to special education principals. Five structured observations were conducted with…

Aware of some educators' concerns that computers isolate children and are too abstract for chilren under the age of eight, two studies investigated young children's use of LOGO and their interactions with the computer. Data were collected on kindergartners working in a public school computer lab and on preschoolers using computers in a…

A multi-method approach involving observations, interviews, and parental self-reports of family behavior, was developed to investigate the parenting behaviors of mothers who either had been or had not been sexually abused in their families when children. Of the 20 families with mothers who had been abused, 10 were two-parent and 10 were…

The San Diego Unified School District (California) began operating a computerized routing and scheduling system for its pupil transportation services at the beginning of the 1985-86 academic school year. The computerized system, provided by Ecotran Systems, Inc. (ECO) of Cleveland, Ohio experienced an inordinate number of difficulties. A…

The study examines and compares free/spontaneous play behaviors of 20 Hispanic (from Ponce, Puerto Rico) and 20 Anglo (from State College, Pennsylvania) 5-year-old children from middle class socioeconomic strata. Within each of the groups there were 10 boys and 10 girls. Each child was observed in a group play setting in four observational…

This study draws on research and programs in Sweden, England, Canada, and the United States to examine communication interaction between a person using a communication aid and a person who is an able-bodied, natural speaker. It primarily addresses the child or adult with normal or near-normal cognitive abilities who uses augmentation and interacts…

As an extension of a two-year longitudinal study involving various aspects of children's writing, a study examined the function of children's oral language during creative writing sessions in typical classroom settings. Using ethnographic style techniques, researchers conducted 46 writing episode observations of seven fifth graders in the spring…

The evaluation instruments used in the Tennessee Career Ladder program are described, and their evolution over the first three years of program implementation is traced. The instruments are designed to measure teacher performance and to determine outstanding teachers. They include: the Career Ladder Test of Professional Skills (a multiple-choice…