This interim report presents the background, procedures, and preliminary results of a national survey of Head Start directors and teachers, focusing on the extent of use of developmental assessment procedures and instruments, staff perceptions of their usefulness and of unmet needs, and the relationship of selected variables to the use of…

This monograph presents some basic theoretical perspectives on play and its relationship to culture, and outlines some basic concepts that can be used to obtain information about cultural differences between children in a school setting. Emphasis is placed on the conceptual and methodological tools normally used in anthropological fieldwork and…

A format is presented for use of student teachers in structuring their classroom observation techniques. Fifteen classroom and school activities are listed with a comprehensive questionnaire accompanying each. These questionnaires guide the student on what behaviors to observe and suggest objective and subjective responses to these behaviors to be…

This 270-item catalog of evaluation instruments contains annotated descriptions of instruments within seven major catagories: achievement tests, achievement tests--diagnostic, attitude scales, behavior rating scales, personality tests, observational checklists, questionnaires, and surveys. Each entry provides the instrument title, source of the…

Some of the specific uses, outcomes, and statistical results obtained with the Social Interaction and Creativity in Communication System (SICCS) of observation are described. Particular attention is given to the different purposes to which the SICCS has been directed, including the coding units, categories, length and frequency of observation, the…

This paper presents the findings from a study designed to determine the relationship of student racial prejudice to the classroom dimensions of student performance, feelings of personal adequacy, perceptions of classroom working conditions, and teacher influence in sixteen racially mixed classes. The techniques employed were paper-pencil…

Two samples of 50 kindergarten children each were tested for IQ, reading and arithmetic achievement, and rated by teachers for social and academic competence. The children were tested again in third grade for reading, spelling, and arithmetic achievement, and rated for classroom coping behaviors. In addition, one kindergarten sample was rated for…

This document reports on the results of instructional audits of five classes. The audit is a systematic approach to gathering data on what is taught and learned in classrooms. Data are content analyzed to determine the relationship between such factors as what a teacher intended to teach, what was actually taught, what students perceived they were…

The structure and quality of classroom interaction and the ways in which children learn how to interact appropriately was the initial focus of the research and field work described in this paper. The site was a kindergarten/first grade class in a suburban Boston Title I elementary school with many students from second and third generation…

Presented is a manual on special education microteaching, an approach to training teachers of handicapped children in which the student teacher teaches a lesson, is critiqued and shown a videotape, then reteaches the lesson. In Chapter 1, several characteristics of microteaching which facilitate the training program's effectiveness and efficiency…

The analysis reported here examined the progress of observational child study from 1960 through 1975. Naturalistic observational studies were described as heuristic, highly realistic, relevant to important social problems and oriented toward significant theoretical issues. Fifteen journals encompassing child development, clinical and educational…

This document presents the results of a Texas survey undertaken to ascertain which developmental diagnostic and screening tests are used in the state to identify Mexican-American preschool children with learning disabilities. A total of 91 public schools, regional service centers, and Head Start centers throughout the state responded to the…

This study was one of four designed to develop the methodological, measurement, and research strategies necessary to begin to define, analyze, and understand cooperative behavior among 4- to 6-year-old children in educational settings. Subjects were 30 4-, 5- and 6-year-olds in a kindergarten program. Each of the 30 children was observed for a…

Open classrooms, embodying an educational policy and a setting departing from the traditional is said to provide especially good opportunities for environmental studies. An approach that summarizes a wide range of information on specific classes is a beginning to gathering environmental information useful to the deisgn process. This information…

The object of the investigations reported here is the perceptions students and teachers have of "actual" classrooms and of their "ideal" classrooms. The data come from 10 junior--level classrooms in each of five high schools. The 10 classrooms were selected as follows: two each in English, mathematics, and social Studies; with the remaining four…