The 1996 report "What Matters Most: Teaching for America's Future" features a 3-part proposal which consists of teacher education program accreditation, initial teacher licensing, and advanced certification based upon a set of shared knowledge, skills, and commitments for professional teaching. A study explored one facet of this proposed…

This qualitative research study used the interactional sociolinguistics approach (Goffman, 1959; Gumperz, 1982) to analyze the expectations of learners and tutors participating in the English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) Drop-in-Center (DIC) environment. Analysis focused on the learners' and tutors' expectations of the conversation and participation…

The purpose of this highly quantitative study is to manifest the direct effects of communicative learning in the context of public high school teaching in Japan. A small-scale (n=12) experiment was conducted to reveal intergroup differences. The experiment was based on the assumption that there are clear differences in the amount of input from and…

The document describes the Changes Project, a participatory action research project conducted by adult learners at five adult literacy and education programs in Western Massachusetts. It is a 3-year project aimed at examining the impact of welfare reform, immigration reform, and the changing workplace on adult learners. The Changes Project is…

Four teachers at a Singapore Catholic elementary school implemented cooperative learning over a period of a year. The teachers received inservice training on cooperative learning and worked closely with a university research team as they implemented cooperative learning for social studies and other subjects. The teachers were subsequently…

This book examines the commonplace rituals and ceremonies that play a central role in college and university culture; it examines how people build, learn, and transform culture in ways that create meaning and give definition to existence. Qualitative research on four campuses over 10 years investigated: why colleges persist with rituals and…

This brief study is based upon several weeks' observation of schools and mining towns in what are considered the best districts in the bituminous coal region of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Alabama, and upon some years' acquaintance with mining town schools. An attempt has been made to point out in a general way the type of school that should…

No effective professional training can be given without ample opportunity for observation of the ordinary processes of teaching, school organization and management. However, at first, few university classes, schools, or departments made any provision for such observation of practice. Experience has, however, finally shown that high-school…

The amount and type of peer interaction occuring in four racially mixed eighth grade classrooms were explored. Analysis of the interactions suggested that cross-race interactions of all groups were more task-related than within-race interactions. In turn, within-race interactions were more social than cross-race interactions. (Author/PN)

An eight-stage model was developed for implementing a five-month program of sustained silent reading. Data from 65 intermediate grade classrooms (using individual students as analysis units) revealed no significant differences on standardized and informal measures and no significant interactive effects. The teachers' summative evaluation found the…

Investigates in two longitudinal, observational studies among 3-year-old children the extent to which early experience, caregiver intervention and language mastery activities are more predictive of IQ and other measures of intellectual competence than are child-initiated activities and nonlanguage-oriented experiences. (Author/RH)

Argues for the application of traditional anthropological ethnography in the study of formal education and for broadening the scope of such studies. Suggests an ecological framework that permits a multilevel application of ethnography in formal education. (Author/GC)

The efforts of a principal who used ideas concerning use of classroom time generated by the Beginning Teacher Evaluation Study to restructure programs at two rural elementary schools are described. Staff development efforts and teachers' reactions are highlighted. Changes in instruction and in scheduling are discussed. (PP)

Sixty-eight teachers (39 English and 29 mathematics) were observed in two of their class sections. Relationships among teaching behaviors and student outcomes in mathematics classes suggest that elements of both the direct instruction model and indirect influence model are supported. Results in English classes are less clear. (Author/CTM)

Teachers in this high school "shadowed" selected students to see the school through students' eyes. The teachers noted both strengths and weaknesses. The latter included class interruptions, low expectations of low achievers, and inadequate learning time. (JM)