This report describes a three-year project at Hampton University (Virginia) to improve the core freshman year curriculum and, ultimately, to improve student learning outcomes. The project involved the development of annual week-long seminars on the teaching of freshman courses in composition, speech, history, and mathematics. Emphasis was on…

This final report of a three-year project at Saint Lawrence University (NY), entitled the Cultural Encounters Project, details a faculty and curriculum development project that focused on particular issues in global or international studies. The project grew out of the so-called "cultural wars," or clash between those who sought to…

Distance learning educators may utilize techniques formerly designed for students with learning disabilities (LD) to enrich the experience of distance education students. Both LD and distance learners suffer from "learned helplessness"--an inability to set realistic goals and a limited perception of the rewards of education. These problems,…

This paper introduces the purposes of school learning communities. Section 1, "Foundations of a Learning Community," presents a definition and discusses different approaches to reforming schools. Section 2, "Key Aspects of a Learning Community," highlights three components of learning communities (student learning, teacher…

This study examined influences that preservice literacy teacher education courses and sustained relationships with literacy researchers had on the literacy practices of three preservice teachers during student teaching and their subsequent self-efficacy and performance as literacy teachers during their first teaching years. Data collected during…

This paper outlines how shared decision making among teacher education faculty, PK-12 educators, and mathematics and science faculty lead to the preparation of quality educators within Wright State University's (WSU) "Partners Transforming Education: School-University-Community" program. This program was designed to simultaneously renew…

This report restates selected Southern Regional Education Board policy recommendations on teacher quality since the early 1980s, outlines key policy areas that need attention, and provides examples of state actions to make needed changes. Regarding teacher preparation, the report discusses university responsibility, partnerships with schools, and…

This brief examines the impact of teaching on student achievement, necessary steps for ensuring teacher quality, and policies needed to support that effort. Research has identified the strong connection between student achievement and teacher preparation and skills. Efforts to generate consistently high teaching levels across all classrooms must…

This report, in a booklet format, presents seven recommendations for increasing the numbers of highly qualified teachers for the middle grades. The recommendations focus on content mastery and professional support for both preservice and inservice teachers. The report also addresses the following topics: (1) what it means to be a highly qualified…

This manual is designed for beginning postsecondary instructors with no previous teacher training. It presents the essentials of the instructional planning and implementation process and explains key principles and practices that have been shown to enhance students' motivation to learn. An introduction describes the purpose, rationale, readers,…

This booklet provides snapshots of teachers' work lives, using information obtained from previous Schools and Staffing Surveys (SASS). The SASS is a set of integrated questionnaires that collect information nationwide about schools and the staff who work in them. A wide variety of schools complete the surveys. The SASS Teacher Questionnaire asks…

This report presents estimates of the proportion of teachers who use a wide range of teaching practices, including those frequently recommended in curriculum and teaching standards and those that have traditionally been part of teachers' practice. The report analyzes data from the 1994-95 Teacher Follow-up Survey, which administered a series of…

This workbook, one of six professional development manuals for adult education (AE) teachers, explores instructional methodologies to promote student success, the theories behind them, and their applications in the self-paced, open-entry/open-exit AE classroom. The pretest and posttest appear first. Each of the seven units begins with a list of…

The Exemplary Schools Project was a national cooperative project that identified successful Canadian secondary schools and analyzed their practices to suggest policy implications. Five issues were examined: the meaning and recognition of success; interactions between the school and its context; the influence of school structures, processes, and…

A study was conducted to determine predictors of student satisfaction in a graduate nursing program taught via fully interactive, multipoint real-time video teleconferencing and World Wide Web/Internet. A correlational research design was used to examine relationships among five learner attributes, three instructional variables, and student…