Research on how students in a university composition class generate and use ideas not only yielded data on the process of invention, but also altered the structure of the course and the teacher-researcher's attitudes toward teaching writing. To facilitate the study of invention, researchers instituted several changes in the course format. They…

Factors related to teacher stress and the relationship between teacher stress and student achievement were investigated using a qualitative research approach. Regular education teachers (n=35) and special education teachers (n=28) of mildly handicapped elementary students were interviewed about their perceptions of general stress in teaching,…

Recent research on organizational turnover has concentrated on testing models of the turnover decision process, in particular, Mobley's (1977) model of employee turnover. The present research was based on Mobley's theoretical work and the subsequent empirical tests of his model. Employees (N=266) at a large computer company completed a…

A final report is presented on a summer institute designed to introduce teachers to concepts and techniques for understanding and addressing problems of school climate and teacher stress at four levels: (1) the individual professional; (2) the school arena; (3) the classroom; and (4) the individual student. Sections of this report present…

"Dialogue" is a review of labor-management cooperation in public education, whose goal is to provide teachers, administrators, school boards, and labor relations practitioners with analyses of critical issues, information about current projects, reviews of relevant literature, and a variety of special features. Each issue is generally…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress studies selected research efforts in the agriculture, economics, and health fields to discover successful strategies for the dissemination and adoption of educational research. Interviews were conducted with people familiar with the Agricultural Extension Movement, Health Examination Interview…

The thesis of this paper is that, although the concept of teacher support groups is well accepted, their implementation is haphazard at best. Three reasons are cited: (1) Professional literature often mandates conditions for establishing support groups that are unrealistic for most schools; (2) Teachers sometimes see the support group as another…

This paper outlines 6 principles for inservice educators and others engaged in staff development for early childhood programs. Principle 1 recommends that inservice educators focus on modifying a teacher's understandings (the constructions, concepts, or schemata relevant to his or her work) rather than on giving prescriptions for behavior.…

In this series of aphoristic remarks about the situation of English teachers in the junior college, the following topics are discussed: administrative structure and accountability; teacher load; part time instructors and professionalism; Proposition 13; literacy and junior college students; evaluation of student papers; careerism in teachers and…

Many teachers resist staff development programs because they believe that "staff development" is a euphemism for "staff evaluation" and are suspicious of an administration collecting quantitative material on teaching for any reason. Similarly, there exists a competitiveness among teachers that precludes complete trust. In recent years, an increase…

SEVEN HUNDRED SEVEN NAVAL AVIATION TRAINEES FROM THREE STAGES OF TRAINING WERE ADMINISTERED AN ANONYMOUS QUESTIONNAIRE THAT ASKED THEM TO GIVE THEIR OWN DEFINITION OF MORALE. THEY WERE THEN INSTRUCTED TO RATE THEIR OWN MORALE ON A TEN-POINT SCALE USING THEIR DEFINITION AS A FRAME OF REFERENCE. A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF THE DEFINITIONS IDENTIFIED THE…

Approaches to obtaining valid information for evaluating faculty and the issue of alcoholism and job performance are addressed. Among the complications to this undertaking is the existence of an invalid self-perception on the part of faculty that they are not employees of the institution, and a tolerance among faculty for deviance or eccentricity.…

Initiated in 1968 for "hardcore unemployables," the Adolph Coors Manpower Challenge Program combines a modified Outward Bound Course with a period of work in the Coors Recycling Yard, followed by permanent placement in the Coors Brewery. Based on changing participants' attitudes, the program eases transition to full employment in four…

The incremental validity of two high-inference, multiple-dimension measures of student and teacher perceptions of their school environment was investigated. Incremental validity was described as accounting for increasing amounts of criterion variance (average daily attendance and achievement on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills) with a set of…

WRITTEN FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF A TAXPAYING-PARENT, THIS LETTER DISCUSSES A NUMBER OF FACTORS RELATED TO COLLECTIVE BARGAINING BETWEEN TEACHER ASSOCIATIONS AND LOCAL BOARDS OF EDUCATION. BY VIRTUE OF SALARY PROVISION THROUGH TAXES AND PARENTAL CONCERN FOR THEIR CHILDREN'S EDUCATION, THE PUBLIC HAS A GENUINE STAKE IN TEACHER-SCHOOL BOARD BARGAINING.…