The relevance of research to the role of teachers in classroom observation and appraisal is discussed. Focus is on: (1) the validity of classroom research literature and the credibility of classroom researchers, centering on content, methodology, and audience; (2) the role of research in teacher professionalism and empowerment; and (3) teacher…

The masking of experience as the basis of learning and development is a major limitation of the school-based approach to inservice education. Neither case studies nor the teacher development literature supports the association of professional learning with a specific site, such as the school. On the contrary, locating the study and practice of…

A study examined the success of the Pennsylvania Department of Education's Exemplary Program Project for Vocational Education in implementing and replicating exemplary vocational education programs, disseminating information about successful programs to local education agencies, and motivating school officials and teachers to develop or replicate…

The purpose of the symposium is to investigate those factors that obstruct and those factors that facilitate the knowledge utilization process for school reform in general and Mastery In Learning Project schools in particular. The Mastery in Learning Project (MILP) is the National Education Association's site-based, faculty-led school reform…

A description is given of an instructional model used effectively in an inservice teacher program on classroom management. Based on pedagogical theory, the model consists of four steps. The initial step involves teachers personally in the problems, issues, and topics addressed by the program. Step two, concept formation, consists of strategies…

The opening section of this paper describes the author's first experience with collegial attempts at curriculum reform through practical inquiry, illustrating a process in which ideas are tested and developed in action. It is pointed out that this form of teacher-based practical inquiry is a characteristic feature of a certain kind of curriculum…

Connections between stereotypical attitudes toward English studies and the apparent lack of integration in curricula and pedagogies make it useful to examine the "process/content debate." Representative voices in this debate have been strident: cultural literacy is paraphrased as expressing that it is not important what can be known, as…

Educators, as applied scientists, must work in partnership with investigative scientists who are researching brain functions in order to reach a better understanding of gifted students and students who are intelligent but do not learn. Improper understanding of brain functions can cause gross errors in educational placement. Until recently, the…

A literary communication model cannot adjudicate the conflicting claims of transformation and enculturation: that literature is intrinsically educational, that it conduces to psychic growth as a process, irrespective of subject matter and free from the dangers of indoctrination, but that the imperative to make it instrumental to political ends…

This study seeks to evaluate if and how undergraduate and graduate students in an early childhood education program applied theories of child development and knowledge of pedagogy in discussing and interpreting young children's behavior in two different contexts.This was assessed by analyzing their discourse as they discussed video tapes: (1) in…

Many functionally illiterate freshmen feel helpless in the face of their inability to learn to read at a competent level. College freshmen who drop out because of this disability are losers who suffer tremendous disadvantages when they leave college without earning a diploma. Possible causes of functional illiteracy hindering the least educated…

The paper describes the Behaviorally Anchored Supervision System (BASS), an approach to supervision in special education based on the definition of effective instruction developed by the Council for Exceptional Children in 1986. A comprehensive model for excellence in special education is based upon the following four elements: values,…

This paper outlines a method for meeting the vocational needs of students with mild disabilities and the instructional demands placed on both teacher and student, without sacrificing time devoted to content areas. By manipulating the existing curriculum and environment, educators can cultivate the skills necessary for success in the working world.…

Curriculum-based assessment (CBA) represents a shift from use of standardized tests as quantifiers of student achievement toward traditional data-based instructional management. The role of assessment in educational programs is explored through presentation of three contrasting perspectives: assessment for placement versus assessment for…

A college business course focusing on the opportunities, issues, problems, and challenges of doing business with companies in the Pacific Rim region is described. The course has two major components: classroom learning and field study. The classroom component includes reading large quantities of materials that relate to economies of the Pacific…