Three contextual factors, the gender of the principal, the choice of subject matter used for the demonstration of competence, and number of years of teaching experience, have been shown to have an effect on the outcome of teacher evaluation. The annual evaluations of 521 elementary personnel using the Florida state-mandated single assessment were…

In response to criticism of methods courses, this paper takes the position that the development of a body of knowledge concerning professional practices is central to the education of professional teachers. Focusing on the complexity of the teaching situation, a discussion is presented on the importance of mastering methods and models of teaching.…

Research on the communicative competency of faculty indicates that students can be motivated to learn by competent communicators. In general, communication experts have better competency skills, (i.e., they use more effective verbal and nonverbal immediacy behaviors) than do faculty as a whole. An area much in need of development for most faculty…

A study examined whether sustained silent reading produced positive attitudes toward reading. Subjects, 583 intermediate grade students and 26 teachers in the 5 elementary schools in the Pulaski, Wisconsin School District, were questioned about reading on a broad basis and about their attitudes toward Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) in particular.…

The ways in which teachers and administrators manage their time is the focus of this four-part study, which includes: (1) an introductory overview of a 1984 study of K-12 teachers' use of time; (2) a study of special education teachers' use of time in two counties in Georgia; (3) a study of successful elementary principals' time budgeting; and (4)…

A study investigated the actual classroom use of American Sign Language (ASL) by 1,888 reading, mathematics, and social studies teachers of 4,500 hearing-impaired students. When asked directly, 140 teachers replied that they use ASL in the classroom. However, analysis of responses to a series of questions about specific communication behavior…

This paper examines the expectations of second semester teacher education students regarding the selected standards of education, related teaching tasks, and the goals of education. Eighty-one second semester students starting on their second field experience completed the Inventory of Perceptions and Expectations (IPE) prior to beginning their…

Research on teaching has recently focused on the cognitive aspects of teachers' work, using a variety of verbal report procedures. It is argued that the models implicit in this research frequently underestimate the complexity of teachers' professional thinking and that teachers' verbal report data reveal characteristics of teaching which research…

Brief descriptions are given of three studies that explored the role of theory in instruction, decision-making, professional development and teacher/student transactions. The first, by Karen Ray, was an observation study of three reading/language arts teachers who were seen to act consistently according to their personal theory of reading and…

Although direct supervision of teachers is rare and most teachers are relatively free to exercise considerable control over their own work, schools generally manage to function without organizational or curricular chaos. The unseen force maintaining control appears to reside in the organization and culture of the school, and may affect teacher…

This study explores the relationship between students' perception of the learning process in their secondary school arts classes and seven contextual elements: (1) teachers' demographic characteristics and their attitudes; (2) students' demographic characteristics and their self-concepts; (3) the classroom environment; (4) the curricular content…

The emphasis in this manual is on effective teaching, how to recognize it, and how to coach the teacher in the implementation of effective teaching skills. A major focus is on continous professional development for teachers; suggestions and procedures for this development are presented. The learning kit is comprised of five chapters, all of which…

A school-based intervention, Changing Teacher Practice (CPT), was developed to teach school leaders, principals, and resource leaders what research has discovered to be effective teaching and effective staff development. CTP was designed to determine if research findings could be used to improve practice and whether practitioners in a school…

The report describes accomplishments of a project to identify patterns of task persistence among handicapped preschoolers and the teacher behaviors that facilitate task persistence. In phase I of the project, 101 children (including 12 nonhandicapped, 57 mildly, 28 moderately, and 4 severely handicapped students) participated in an examination of…

This final report presents a set of linked investigations of the effects of training teachers in effective classroom management practices in a series of school-based workshops. A previous study led to the development of descriptive models of effective management and instruction. These "models-in-use" provided interpretations of how what teachers…