Increasing recent research on nontraditional students has uncovered anomalies and inconsistencies in Tinto's model of student persistence patterns, especially with regard to academic and social integration. It is hypothesized that these inconsistencies are a product of the heterogeneous nature of nontraditional student populations, combined with…

Beginning with general observations on the human element in excellent teaching that often goes unnoticed by researchers, this speaker provides a wide range of suggestions for making more effective use of class time. These suggestions pertain to monitoring time on and off task, classroom organization and planning, making assignments, clarifying…

An account of what it means to be a dyslexic student in higher education, put together by a group of Brown students who are dyslexic, is presented in an attempt to make the Brown community aware of dyslexia, its symptoms, and some study strategies for coping with it. Some of the resources that Brown offers its student body are listed. Nine…

In a study of the reliability of an English language proficiency test for non-native teaching assistants (NNS TAs), 18 NNS TAs were administered the SPEAK Test. The results were compared with student evaluations of the intelligibility and clarity of the TAs' classroom speech. Despite problems with the SPEAK Test, the measure was considered a…

The development of an English version of a Dutch instrument--the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI)--that measures interpersonal teacher behavior (TB) is described. Using this instrument, comparisons were made between Dutch and American interpersonal TB. Students' perceptions of TB were used to measure TB. The QTI was first translated into…

The lack of student discipline continues to be a major concern among educators and the general public. A researcher-developed opinion survey concerning the frequency of, sources of, and interventions for student misbehavior was completed by a sample of 312 students and 106 teachers from four private American-type schools located in Caracas,…

Insights gained from experience and research on language minority students' academic success are reviewed as background for presentation of a curriculum that is bilingual and content-based and uses cooperative learning techniques. First, findings on three elements of success (interest and motivation, intelligence and development, and psychosocial…

Previous research has failed to support the widely held assumption that the academic difficulties experienced by many minority and low socioeconomic status youth are due to their "outsider" standing vis-a-vis the middle class culture thought to govern the social relations of schooling. This analysis suggests that this proposition errs in…

Sociologist Willard Waller, writing more than 50 years ago, framed many of the key ideas found in contemporary literature on school organization. This paper is both an appreciation and criticism of Waller's seminal case studies of social interaction in schools. The paper is divided into four sections. The first two explore Waller's thought and its…

This national and state review provides a synthesis of current thinking and practice concerning prekindergarten programs in public schools. Section I discusses the need for preschool programs in terms of the changing family and workforce, the baby "boomlet," and socioeconomic factors. Section II reviews early childhood programs,…

This paper reports on several generic evaluation methods used by the evaluation office of the Curriculum Research and Development Group of the University of Hawaii (EO-CRDG). Scrivens's (generic) checklist approach was taken one step further by developing generic data collection instruments to be used with any evaluation method: (1) a formative…

A preceptorship model of clinical teaching for medical education is presented. Based on the view that physicians use precepting skills in patient care, preceptorship is seen as an opportunity for medical students to learn to practice ambulatory medicine away from the medical center. A model called "Johari Window" is adapted to explain the…

A handbook for University of Georgia graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) is presented that provides practical information about teaching for inexperienced GTAs as well as experienced teachers who seek new ideas. Attention is directed to: responsibilities of assistantships; relationships with faculty and with students; policies, procedures, and…

The use of explicit, written criteria to evaluate college and university faculty is examined. Four major issues concerning faculty evaluation are as follows: the desired outcomes of faculty evaluation; the functions of faculty activity that are to be evaluated; the criteria that should be used for each area evaluated; and the procedures for…

This paper presents recently reported findings that associate teacher behavior with student achievement. These findings fall under 5 general categories: time usage, classroom management, teacher expectations, teacher effectiveness research, and specific teacher behaviors. Research on time usage has demonstrated that the same amount of learning…