Criteria to guide classroom assessment practice are determine the extent to which assessment practices are based on tasks and activities that are representative of instructional intention and translate into specific information collection, interpretation, evaluation, and reporting procedures; address the accuracy of the assessment; and consider…

Suggests guidelines for observing young children's developing control over their thinking and text-making knowledge. Presents evidence of distinct, observable differences between at-risk and non-at-risk preschoolers' knowledge of what a literary piece should be and how to monitor the product to make sure it meets an audience's needs. Discusses…

An observation procedure that can be used to observe cooperative learning in French instruction is presented. The procedure consists of setting up the cooperative learning activity and observing whether the cooperative group displays the second-language discourse found to foster second-language learning. Forms for recording observations are…

Head Start caregivers' positive and neutral interactions with nonhandicapped, and mainstreamed handicapped, children were observed while the caregivers engaged in caregiving and instructional activities. Caregivers were found to have higher positive and neutral interaction rates and higher negative interaction rates, with handicapped than with…

Describes a study that was designed to gather information about teachers' perspectives on achievement testing and to describe where the competency-based testing in the CUES (Continuous Uniform Evaluation System) program fits into the teachers' overall plans for teaching and assessing students. Recommendations for instructional design and teacher…

This observational study of three preschool children with profound disabilities in an integrated setting revealed frequent opportunities for peer social interactions and indicated that subjects engage in interactions of comparable length to those of nondisabled peers. The importance of helping young nondisabled children understand and respond to…

In 24 third and sixth grade classrooms, 78 percent of instructional time involved quiet work or teacher talking, whereas 1 percent involved brainstorming, discussion, oral problem solving, and role playing combined. Talk structures were affected by subject and teacher sex but not by grade or teacher experience. Contains 71 references. (Author/SV)

Describes how a writing teacher used Classroom Assessment Techniques to improve the functioning of editing groups in her classroom, involving students directly and honestly in classroom management and evaluation of instruction. (SR)

Describes the development and organization of the Colt (Communicative Orientation of Language Teaching) observation scheme and Lyster and Ranta's (1997) error treatment model, instruments including predetermined categories to describe features of instructional input and interaction in second language classrooms. Concludes that the choice of…

Explores a curriculum-review process for assessing how a specialized secondary school for the gifted might improve its programs and services. The review process used document review, interviews, focus groups, and classroom-observation techniques to arrive at recommendations and an action plan. (Author)

Classroom observation evokes feelings of fear and vulnerability, but the method can have developmental value for faculty. Visits by colleagues from other disciplines and supportive relationships with peer coaches can help improve teaching techniques and teacher quality. (SK)

Describes the participant-observer experience of two graduate students in an independent study in a high school. The focus was on the process of being a qualitative researcher rather than on the research topic. The students applied a variety of research strategies to learn about different aspects of schooling. (MMU)

This article offers suggestions for videotaping classroom instruction in order to allow teachers to conduct self-evaluation through self-observation and to develop hypotheses regarding the functional relationship of their behavior to that of their students. Methods of defining, scoring, and graphically displaying behaviors are explained, and…

Studied how early childhood teachers think about and use child observation in Australian and U.S. classrooms. Uses in U.S. settings included assessing academic progress and adjusting curriculum/teaching strategies. Uses in Australian settings included identifying individual strengths and weaknesses, and informing work with parents and other…

Argues that the concentration on aims as a central tenet of classroom observation for teacher development is tied to Newtonian discourses that--despite the rival claims of the "new" science of chaos and complexity--still dominate the world of English language teaching. Outlines the main ideas behind these theories and relates them to second…