This book was written for use in university courses and inservice programs directed toward the improvement of secondary education. Part I contains an introduction and overview of an improvement design, including descriptions of proposals that have been made for school improvement, and experiences of school practitioners in improvement programs. In…

Following a precis of research findings on the topic of teacher effectiveness, this resource bibliography presents sources that address three major questions about teacher instructional effectiveness: (1) What do effective teachers know? (2) What do effective teachers do? and (3) What attitudes do effective teachers have? Each citation is…

The influence of biological science research on the development of physical education curriculum is examined in this paper. The social construction of scientific knowledge is described as occurring in the selection of problems to be studied, the collection and interpretation of data, the dissemination of results, and the educational uses of…

This project focused on both students and their teachers. Through the SLICK (Summer Learning in Colchester for Kids) component, children were afforded the opportunity to participate in several enrichment courses during the summer of 1987. Through the effective teaching component, teachers assisted in training their peers, and coached one another…

The Urban Initiative of the New Jersey Department of Education commits large numbers of its staff to a variety of efforts to improve schooling in the State's urban areas. It also represents an effort to develop a programmatic response that is rooted in research to the problems of urban education. In broad outline, the initiative is a…

Wheeless' trust and solidarity scales are examined under conditions of positive and negative target person. Valence of stimulus is shown to have a strong influence on the performance of the scales. The problems on Wheeless' scales were not detected in the original validation studies because of the normal validation paradigm. That paradigm…

To explore whether there is a recognizable point (a terminology-setting event, e.g., a scholarly conference, a special issue of a journal, or a particularly influential journal article) in the development of a new branch of knowledge that serves to codify a vocabulary for the researchers of that field, electronic and manual searches were conducted…

The purpose of this study was to examine the literature to find out if the recommendation by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) that mathematics education should focus on problem-solving in the 1980s was being implemented or had caused any changes in the approach to teaching mathematics in the school curriculum. The study also…

A consortium of 15 Nebraska colleges of education was established to provide collaborative means for examining significant research for teacher education, to share information about programs and activities, and to provide a support network as the institutions work on program improvement. A description is given of the formation of the Consortium…

This issue of Research and Educational Practice Improvement Notes discusses three recent studies on schooling: (1) "Changing Our Schools; The Realities," by Kenneth Tye; (2) "Innovation Up Close: A Field Study in Twelve School Settings," Volume Four of a study conducted by David P. Crandall and associates; and (3)…

In order for education to evolve from a craft to a profession, a spirit of inquiry must be infused into the beliefs and activities of education faculty members and practicing teachers. For faculty members in professional schools, the responsibilities of teaching, research, and service should be integrated activities for which inquiry serves as the…

An effective environmental scan will improve the quality of community college planning and decision making by alerting institutional leaders to the challenges and opportunities in the environment. Scanning can be done in three ways: (1) establishing a scanning committee to gather and synthesize information to guide planning; (2) sponsoring a…

Attitudes toward research-based effective teaching behaviors were inventoried to explore differences between teachers, principals, college faculty, and undergraduate education students (N=500). Scores from the Teaching Behaviors Questionnaire (TBQ) were analyzed using analysis of variance and a post hoc comparison procedure. The scores indicated…

As educators across the nation launch into frenzied efforts to "do something" in response to the various recommendations of commissions on educational excellence, many are forgetting that knowledge of how to implement change is available. This paper focuses on three concerns that educators must face when fitting general recommendations…

It is suggested in this paper that practical arguments can be used in teacher education and staff development programs to introduce teachers to research-based practices. Practical arguments consist of three types of premises--value, empirical, and situational--that conclude with an action, or an intention to act. Such arguments are a useful way to…