The method used for a developmental study of teacher evaluation techniques (part of the Utah Teacher Evaluation Project) was a review of research literature to find those teacher evaluation practices with the most promise. Each technique was further researched in order to bring it to a "recommended practice" condition with limitations,…

This handbook is designed to provide a basis for discussion or training sessions on teacher-administrator relationships. The first section of the handbook examines communication problems and describes effective and ineffective communication techniques. Discussion questions and guidelines for communication improvement are listed for administrators…

In a high school writing class of eight students, a computer was used as a word processor to permit close observation of students as they learned. The class was studied using ethnographic techniques: videotape, audiotape, teacher/researcher journals, student writing, and interviews. Three types of learners emerged: marginal--those who had…

A theory of interpretation developed from the composition scholar's reading and revision of literary theory can effectively serve as a core theory in writing across the curriculum programs. For example, recent composition theory, with its emphasis on close study of students' texts and the process of their writing, provides the writing teacher with…

A research design is described which refines standard classroom observation schedules and techniques in order to reveal the social organization of schooling as the environment for processes of cultural transmission. The author believes a combination of longitudinal and cross-sectional study of classrooms and grade levels is the most effective way…

Three papers exploring facets of the teaching process are presented in this report. The papers are part of the Didactic Process Analysis (DPA) Helsinki research project. The DPA research team, composed of educators investigating instructional processes, has, since 1967, examined taxonomies and classifications of teaching processes. The first…

The study involving 35 learning disabled children (7 to 10 years old) investigated the relationship of properties of formal lessons and teacher communication to task related attention of the children. Ss in seven resource room settings were observed during three formal lessons for a total of 72 minutes each. During observations, data on lesson…

The validity of the interpersonal cognitive problem solving (ICPS) skills model of children's adjustment was investigated (1) by determining whether ICPS skills demonstrated during preschool predicted teacher ratings of adjustment in school during the next two years and (2) by assessing the objectivity of teacher ratings of adjustment through the…

This paper reports results of an exploratory study designed to identify some of the issues most critical for understanding how naturalistic inqiry is done and why researchers behave as they do. Preliminary results are discussed of an inquiry into ten case studies, The Case Studies in Science Education (CSSE), funded as one project by the National…

Ethnography as a classroom observation method addresses itself to the situations, events, patterns, and contexts that exist in a classroom at a given time. A priori categorical observation and evaluation systems measure what the system is designed to "see," and may fail to record anomolies and salient events that affect teaching and learning in…

Results of a study conducted to develop and validate an instrument for objective and continuous assessment of student performance in the physics laboratory are reported. Two modes of teacher assessment of student performance were compared: (1) video-tape recording of two students performing experiments; and (2) an instrument for continuous,…

A number of assessment measures are available for measuring affective growth in reading. Among the factors involved in affective response to reading are attitude toward reading, interest in reading, and attitude toward specific reading programs. The most commonly used of the reactive measures of affective reading growth (those in which…

A self-instructional program for use by teachers of the handicapped, this training manual was developed to teach accurate coding with the Oral Reading Observation System (OROS)an observation system designed to code teacher-pupil verbal interaction during oral reading instruction. The body of the manual is organized to correspond to the nine…

This study investigated questions concerning the incidence of student off-task activities, which interrupt learning, in different academic activities, within different activity formats (e.g., individual, group), and among students differing in achievement growth (AG). AG was defined as a pattern of continuous growth during the previous two years…

Data derived from a year-long study of 43 algebra classes in 13 high schools were collected to assess the differences between high-inference and low-inference measures of teacher behavior as predictors of pupil achievement and attitude change. The high-inference systems rated characteristics such as enthusiasm and clarity while low-inference…