The 11 journal articles reviewed in this annotated bibliography focus on ways teachers and principals can improve the quality of teaching. Among the four articles directed toward principals are two that relate to the culture of the school; another presents a model to principals for achieving quality instruction; and the fourth proposes six…

This annotated bibliography was prepared to provide background material for a synthesis paper, "Teacher Evaluation as a Strategy for Improving Instruction." Both formative (teacher improvement) and summative (personnel decisions) aspects of the topic are addressed by the materials collected. The 52 selected items, most of which were…

Research on teacher thinking generally has failed to take into account teacher beliefs and understandings in both research methodology and in interpretation of data. Two models prevail in research on teacher thinking. The decision making model, which has undergone several modifications, tends to focus on explaining and understanding deliberate…

The second volume of this final report of a large study which detailed the day-to-day working of, and student response to, two philosophically different approaches to reading readiness as they were used in six Philadelphia kindergartens reports on the "traditional" approach. The background section distinguishes the traditional approach by its use…

Designed to be used primarily for research purposes, this Group Reading Interaction Pattern Observation Instrument (GRIP) training manual specifies process behaviors used by the teacher during classroom instruction regardless of the subject matter. The instrument is comprised of three sections: (1) the Identifying Information Sheet, to provide…

Two methods of teacher evaluation, summative evaluation and formative evaluation, are examined. The summative theory calls for an assessment of teaching competence on the basis of which judgments may be made on matters pertaining to promotion, tenure, merit salary increments, or dismissal. Summative evaluation is strongly supported because it…

An ethnographic study of kindergarten through grade two classrooms was conducted of various sociolinguistic contexts in which young students were developing oral and written language competencies. Nonparticipant observations were conducted in both regular classrooms and Chapter I small group classroom settings. The observations were analyzed from…

An observational study of classroom behavior was made to identify competencies and contexts of social interaction influencing the development of friendship among preschool children attending an integrated special education classroom. Subjects were six boys and four girls whose ages ranged from 3 to 6 years. Two of the children, a 4-year-old girl…

A case study of a New Zealand educator's 14-year efforts to apply reading theory to reading instruction is described in this paper. The project was begun in 1962 to find out if teachers could observe the process of learning to read going awry within a few months of the child's entry into school, and to seek ways of correcting that trend if…

Variables derived from two measures of classroom behavior, direct observation and teacher rating, were used in regression designs with measured intelligence to predict a measure of academic achievement of 69 kindergarten, first, and second grade children. Results suggest that measures of classroom behavior contribute variance to the prediction of…

A new teacher observation scale is described and teacher ratings are related to measures of self concept and attitude toward school. Different results are obtained when analysis employs change measures of these variables in comparison with status measures. The teaching dimensions of "cognitive demand" and "warmth" seem to be important variables…

Participant observation techniques were used to observe and analyze a system of "informal education" practiced in a state-supported middle school of 260 students in South Yorkshire, England. "Informal education" was the term used to designate the general nature of the educational methodology of the school. The study focused…

Strategy analysis systems (SAS) used to describe classroom instruction are characterized by three components: (1) observing classroom behavior; (2) coding behavior into categories; and (3) data reduction with translation into meaningful feedback. Unique learning environments (laboratories and inquiry teaching) have necessitated developing SAS…

To determine which types and qualities of science teaching strategies stimulate students to become involved in learning, middle and high school students (N=147) were observed for time-on-task (time actively spent by the student in learning) and off-task during periods while being taught by five student teachers. The "Teaching Strategies…

Ethnographic methods were used to study interactions between a college instructor and his class. The data collection methods included classroom observations, videotape recordings, interviews, and questionnaires. The focus of the study was on co-occurring behavior patterns in student-teacher interactions during a "subject matter loop" (when the…