To provide data for changes currently being implemented in Chicago public schools, a study examined the effect of teachers' attitudes on student discipline problems and classroom management strategies. Questionnaires were distributed to 50 elementary and secondary teachers soliciting their views regarding the characteristics of problem students,…

This book contains necessary information to help teachers deal with the assessment concerns of classroom teachers. The major theme is that classroom assessment should help teachers make better educational decisions. Each chapter contains several elements intended to foster mastery of its contents, including a summary of contents, a more succinct…

This study explored how early childhood practitioners perceive young boys and girls in the classroom. Specific research questions addressed include: (1) Are the perceptions that practitioners have of young boys and girls significantly different?; and (2) If there is a difference, what is the nature of that difference? The study identified whether…

This paper describes a case study approach to multicultural education and examines what was learned from a project utilizing teacher-written cases in a seminar for new teachers. A case is described and analyzed. Data were gathered by reflecting on what had been taught about teaching in diverse classrooms and discussing potential implications for…

The transition of teacher candidates into the teaching profession is often perceived to be particularly traumatic. This study was designed: (1) to ascertain whether or not 61 beginning elementary and secondary classroom teachers who responded on 2 occasions to the same work expectations scale changed job entry expectations between completion of…

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) sponsored the 1988-89 Teacher Followup Survey (TFS), conducted by the U.S. Bureau of the Census, to update data on teacher career patterns and plans. This survey is a follow-up of the 1987-88 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) teacher sample. The TFS is the fifth component of the SASS. The sample…

The 1992 presidential campaign put the idea of the electronic town meeting firmly on the political scene, and each of the presidential debates during that campaign experimented with the town meeting format. This paper reviews the tradition of town meeting democracy in the United States and proposes ways to carry that tradition on with the help of…

A popular instrument purported to measure psychological dimensions of school climate--the Charles F. Kettering Ltd. School Climate Profile (CFK)--was analyzed psychometrically. Factor analysis was used to examine the construct validity of the CFK scale, Part A, General Climate Factors, which contains 8 subscales each with 5 items (a total of 40…

This study examined whether an expert system approach involving intelligent selection of items (EXSPRT-I) is as efficient as item response theory (IRT) based three-parameter adaptive mastery testing (AMT) when there are enough subjects to estimate the three IRT item parameters for all items in the test and when subjects in the item parameter…

The use of log-linear models for investigating differential item functioning (DIF) associated with examinee/respondent background characteristics was examined. The Likert-type items used in this study were drawn from a 36-item self-report measure--the Suicide Probability Scale. Specifically, log-linear models were used to investigate whether…

Using the right hemisphere of the brain in evaluating student writing means consciously and consistently incorporating its emotional, intuitive, and holistic functions with the more analytical functions of the logical "left" hemisphere when considering, judging, and directing improvement in student writing. Research seems to suggest that…

Twenty years ago, anyone proposing to help teachers with the problem of classroom discipline had few resources at hand. It was approximately at that time that Jacob Kounin began a series of investigations that have changed our way of talking and thinking about classroom discipline. He changed our focus from a sterile concern with exercising…

Emotional intelligence (EI) is emerging as an area of interest in leadership development. Recent research stresses how valuable strong EI skills are to the success of the person, team, organization, and society. Unlike IQ, emotional intelligence skills can be improved with focused training, coaching, and lifespan experiences. Effectively used,…

The importance of the presentation order of items on Likert-type scales was studied. It was proposed that subjects tend to choose the first alternative acceptable to them from among the response categories, so that a primacy effect can be predicted. The effects of reversing the order of the response scale on the latent factor structure underlying…

This monograph describes the theory and practice of the invitational learning model as it applies to school counseling and development. Invitational learning is a paradigm for personal and professional functioning, and for organizational restructuring, based on four values regarding the nature of people and their potential and the nature of…