During the 1982-83 school year the Austin Independent School District implemented a successful bilingual preschool project. However, class A was more successful than class B in terms of results on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised. To understand what factors may have led to greater effectiveness, data were gathered from the two classes…

Due in part to conflicting opinions and research results, the practice of sustained silent reading (SSR) in schools has been questioned. After a frustrating experience with SSR, the author of this article began a data-driven decision-making process to gain new insights on how to structure silent reading in a classroom, including a comparison…

Three researchers, addressing the problem of instructional improvement, identify sound research findings and cite problems associated with the transfer of these findings into classroom practice. Donald M. Medley, in "An Overview of Research on Classroom Teaching," identifies three variables which consistently differentiate between effective and…

Discusses the use of correspondence training in the classroom to improve learning outcomes. Defines the training as an experimental behavioral strategy that takes into account the degree to which people achieve what they are aiming to do. Concludes from research involving middle school students that the subjects achieved a better work output in…

Cognitive research of the 1970s has shown that both content factors (topical world knowledge and knowledge about textual organization) and process factors (attention, encoding, inference, retrieval, and executive monitoring) influence comprehension. Classroom research during the same decade has shown that the greater the proportion of time…

This review focuses on the relationship between instructional processes and student behavior as presented in "Time to Learn," a description of processes, findings, and implications from the Beginning Teacher Evaluation Study. Attention is given to chapters concerning data collection, relational and descriptive processes, and limitations…

Research-based answers are offered to the following questions on instructional time: (1) Can student achievement be improved by making time to teach? (2) What can a classroom teacher do to make time to teach? and (3) How can a school or district help the teacher? Factors related to instructional time which are described as having an effect on…

This paper advocates categorization of engagement on the basis of a logical relationship with the outcomes of a study and the use of student attributes that are logically related to engagement and/or achievement as covariables. Results from a study involving nine engagement categories, measures of formal reasoning ability, locus of control and…

Generalizations arising from effective teaching studies are vulnerable because they are not based on a theoretical perspective of how learning occurs or can be improved, but have resulted from observations of what teachers appear to be doing when students are learning. Critics of teacher effectiveness studies contend that good instruction requires…

To confirm or refute impressions that primary grade children do little in the way of actual school work during the day, a principal conducted informal observations in several first and second grade classrooms. Each type of activity the children might perform, such as reading, coloring, or moving about the room, was grouped into three major…

In this critique of "Time to Learn," a publication dealing with the Beginning Teacher Evaluation Study, the reviewer argues that time spent on a task is not an adequate measure of instructional quality or relevance. Other limitations of the book and of the study are discussed. (PP)

This observer training manual was developed as a central component of a research effort, Changing Teacher Practice (CTP), which was designed to increase the frequency of effective teaching behaviors and staff development strategies in an ongoing school system. The observations focused on two major aspects of classroom teaching--instruction and…

High school mathematics teachers were trained to provide mastery learning instruction. A primary characteristic of this method of instruction is the feedback-corrective enrichment loop. This study was conducted to determine whether class time could be allocated for the principles of mastery learning within the fixed amount of available time…

A review of research and proposed models on classroom processes allows identification of four key characteristics of effective classrooms in elementary and secondary education. The four characteristics encompass (1) teacher attention to student characteristics, including prior learning and learning styles; (2) congruence among the course goals,…

The Junior High School Management Improvement Study (JMIS) was a field experiment conducted to verify and extend findings of previous research in English and mathematics classes. Using student behaviors (on task, off task, and disruptive behavior) as criteria of management effectiveness, this study investigated classroom management practices in 26…