A review of research concerning students' ideas of teacher effectiveness showed evidence in favor of the use of student evaluations of teaching performance. This evidence includes the validity of pupil perceptions and the value of such an exercise in itself in establishing a sound student-teacher relationship. (Author/RM)

This study validated computerized versions of selected tests from the Kit of Factor-Referenced Cognitive Tests of 1976, compared performance of higher education students on computerized and paper-and-pencil versions of the tests, and explored whether gender, academic status, or age interacted with the tests. (MBR)

The results of a three-year study in which consultants worked with faculty members and, using data from student evaluations, helped them implement the instructional improvement ideas of teachers rated highly by students are reported. (MSE)

Examines the claim that television does not actively involve the viewer cognitively in ways usually associated with mature information processing. Study is described that suggests active and differential processing of television information by viewers and an increase in the level of sophistication in understanding the medium. Twenty-six references…

A search for systematic extraneous influences upon high school student ratings of teacher effectiveness is reported, with the view of demonstrating how such influences meeting the criteria (student motivation/preference and class size) need to be considered in the evaluation of the validity of such ratings. (PN)

A Tel Aviv University study determined the characteristics of good teaching, as defined by college students, and the difference in concept and definitions among students in various disciplines. The most commonly cited characteristics included teacher delivery, advising, contribution to student thinking, and scholarly attributes. (MSE)

This exploratory study investigated whether Papua New Guinea university students and their western counterparts perceive lecturers similarly. Survey forms listed performance facets judged important by American and Australian students. Papua New Guinea students differed primarily because they did not distinguish between the organizational quality…

Outlines three effective schools projects: (1) Project RISE (Milwaukee), (2) the Effective Schools Project (Chicago); and (3) Project SHAL (Saint Louis). For each project, details administrative and instructional support arrangements, system-wide initiatives, outcomes, and future directions. Summarizes the main issues in creating effective…

A structural equation model of second language acquisition for adult learners describing the relationships between latent variables representing sociocultural background, cognitive ability, functional language proficiency, cognitive language proficiency, attitudes, motivation, and instructional approach was evaluated. Data were drawn from a…

Using cross classifiable pictures, this study assessed taxonomic and thematic clustering in free recall in 240 children, ages seven and ten. The effects of both free and constrained test conditions and developmental, ethnic, and socioeconomic differences, were examined. (BS)

A study to determine whether students are able to adequately discriminate differences in instructors' teaching and whether these evaluation differences are related to examination item characteristics is described. Results indicated students were able to discriminate among various instructors as well as between basic science and clinical faculty.…

Investigated whether dropouts and other students having difficulty with physics could be identified by including mathematics reasoning items along with mathematics skill items on a 13-item mathematics pretest and by using records of past performance in conjunction with the pretest. Sample included 483 students in an introductory, noncalculus,…

Criticizes the "Five New Basics" proposal on the basis of the Educational Testing Service's Growth Study, which found that completion of core curriculum enhances test performance only if the student's course performance is very high. Concludes that the National Commission did not comprehensively evaluate current educational conditions…

The project-syllabus is an outgrowth of the individual contract system used in experiential education. It is a mass-produced contract containing experiential objectives, field resources to be tapped, a listing of topical inquiries, grading procedures, and a format for preparing reports. (Author/LBH)

Using semantic differential scales to measure high school students' attitudes toward teachers, the influence of student ability and sex on these attitudes was examined. (Editor)