Dismissals for ineffective teaching, as distinguished from insubordination, immorality, or improper treatment of students, are rare because standards of teaching against which to juxtapose an individual teacher's behavior have not been available. However, abstract performance standards for teachers are beginning to emerge from research on teaching…

Initial steps have been taken at the national and state levels to eventually implement more rigorous procedures for screening and selecting teacher candidates. In most instances, however, the early stages of this process have focused primarily upon academic criteria for selection. Several research projects in recent years have attempted to…

The first section of this handbook for student teachers offers advice on the behavior and protocols that should be observed by a student teacher approaching the first assignment to a school. In the second, classroom techniques are discussed, e.g., communication with students, classroom discipline, and planning. The third section deals with…

Whether principals could identify teaching traits and categorize these consistently as descriptors of instructional stages was studied by asking 145 randomly selected principals in public schools throughout Illinois and Indiana to characterize teacher behavior based on experience. Principals were asked to list instructional stages, yielding 161…

Perceptions about career ladders were studied in 254 pre-service and in-service teachers from two southern states at five different levels of socialization in their professional life: (1) 118 were students taking an entry-level course in teacher education; (2) 44 were senior students before student teaching; (3) 40 were senior students after…

The purpose of this study was to compare the relative magnitude of the variance components and generalizability coefficients derived from the Teacher Performance Assessment Instruments (TPAI) data using two different methods of data collection: (1) occasions when observers were in the classroom for simultaneous observation and (2) occasions when…

This monograph presents an analysis of the central characteristics of self-image held by a group of graduates during their experience as primary school teachers in England, and the ways that they sought to preserve their sense of identity during their first decade of work. Data were gathered from personal accounts of 99 teachers through in-depth…

This study compared the perceptions held by Mexican-American secondary school students with those held by their Anglo-American peers toward the climate of their classrooms. The objectives of the study were to identify any differences in student perceptions and to examine the relationships between school climate perceptions, academic achievement,…

Teacher performance areas, criteria for evaluating them, and response modes (checklists for rating teacher performance) are supplied in this document, a prototype developed for the School Improvement Model (SIM) project. Teacher performance areas selected for evaluation include productive teaching techniques; organized, structured class…

Three studies are presented on the subject of factors considered important by teachers as they make decisions about curriculum. For the first study, information was gathered from a sample of 93 elementary and secondary school teachers. Respondents completed a questionnaire which contained a list of influences on curriculum decisions. Teachers…

A discussion of how teachers perceive students and interact with them points out that one characteristic of an effective teacher is a high level of interactive skills. Selected teacher behaviors which enhance the quality of teacher-student contacts are discussed. It is emphasized that modeling desirable behavior is a primary responsibility for…

Five elements of teaching style which are directly related to effective learning patterns are identified: (1) warmth--monitoring seatwork, communicating awareness of behavior, providing individual assistance; (2) cognitive organization--feedback, fast-paced activities, variety of learning drills; (3) orderliness--rules, smooth transitions,…

This review of current research on teaching focuses upon studies of teaching behaviors and their relationship to student performance. In considering research on classroom climate, examples are presented of studies which used the Flanders Interaction Analysis System (FIAC) to investigate relationships among student achievement and teacher-initiated…

This publication reviews research findings related to the verbal questioning behaviors and practices of teachers. It emphasizes current research related to the impact of questioning practices on student thinking, achievement, and attitudes. This includes questioning techniques and strategies and approaches to analyzing classroom questions. A list…

Literature and research studies concerning self-fulfilling prophecy effects are reviewed in this document. Works concerning the Pygmalion Controversy, the existence of self-fulfilling prophecy effects of teacher expectations, and the strength and reality of these effects are cited. The document's sections discuss the effects of teacher…