This document reviews the attributes of instructional effectiveness and supervisory practices in special education and examines the extent to which these attributes and practices are used as criterion measures for supervising instruction. The document prescribes and recommends exemplary practices that supervisors in special education ought to…

The stability of teacher behavior has been one of the most important areas of process-product research. This study was designed to investigate teacher stability in the context of math instruction across classes and times of observation in order to assess the relationship between teaching styles and student learning outcomes. Specifically the study…

This book describes the emergence and early development of pretend play in its sociocultural context. It traces the development of pretend play in nine children growing up within educated, middle-class European-American families. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the social and cultural aspects of pretend play. Chapter 2 describes the children and…

Literacy development was studied among 38 4-year-olds in Head Start on the Lummi Indian Reservation. Data consisted of observations during weekly visits throughout the school year, student writing samples, records of "pretend reading," responses to environmental print, and checklists assessing written language displays in the classrooms.…

This report examines outcomes of the Primary Language Record (PLR), a program for systematically observing students in various aspects of their literacy development. The PLR uses classroom events and samples of student work to record students' progress and interests, recommend strategies for addressing needs and building on talents, and discuss…

While the 1960s and 1970s came to be known as the era of curriculum development in science, it appears that the 1980s and the 1990s will be known as the time of curriculum development with strengthened attention to implementation and evaluation. This book examines the assessment of elementary school science and provides numerous examples of…

As part of the Professional Development Workshop at Calhoun Community College, the Department of Natural Sciences conducted the third annual Spring Wilderness Pilgrimage in March 1989, a week-long environmental awareness field trip for faculty and staff. Designed as a study of the plants and animals on a barrier island off the coast of Florida,…

This study was conducted in order to determine the impact of a 3-year, theory based, inservice training program on teaching effectiveness for classroom teachers. Feedback on observed teaching effectiveness competencies was provided for each teacher in the study sample, along with a profile of student learning styles and data on student perceptions…

The requirement of the state of Louisiana that teaching certificates be renewed for all state teachers led to the development of the System for Teaching and Learning Assessment and Review (STAR), an on-the-job teacher evaluation process. This study examines the relationship between student perceptions of their classroom environment and teacher…

This study reviews the literature on the social and behavioral characteristics of only children in China. Of 16 studies that reported differences in the characteristics of only and non-only children, only 2 indicated that only children exhibited more socially desirable behaviors than did non-only children. The remaining studies reported that,…

This digest describes three teacher education program models designed to concentrate on: (1) a philosophy of middle school education; (2) an understanding of the unique psychological, social, and intellectual needs peculiar to the 10- to 14-year-old student; (3) an ability to increase student motivation; and (4) a command of subject area. The…

Detroit's Peer Teachers as Mirrors and Monitors Project is intended to validate cost effective methods for increasing Academic Learning Time (ALT) for students in grades one through four. A major problem in this research effort has been the design of valid and reliable measures of the components of ALT. One very important component of ALT is…

Elementary school instructional media centers (IMC's) were studied to determine the presence or absence of six conditions identified as promoting positive self-concept: cooperation, independence, success, positive atmosphere, challenge, and a feeling of value or acceptance. Following a review by a panel of experts of a preliminary observation…

Concerned with the interaction between teacher writing values and classroom writing instruction, this report describes a naturalistic study of writing-related activities and teacher attitudes in a combined second and third grade classroom and a sixth grade classroom. It presents descriptions and analyses of seven occasions for writing that…

As part of a larger evaluation of the Individually Guided Education (IGE) system in Wisconsin elementary schools, a comparative study was conducted of the effectiveness of reading instruction and the Wisconsin Design for Reading Skill Development (WDRSD) program in IGE and non-IGE settings. Data on students in grades five and two in 11 different…