Teaching may seem too complex and too involved in various dimensions of affective and cognitive aspects of learning for a good teacher evaluation program to be devised. A hierarchy of criteria is proposed, based upon analysis of observable versus unobservable characteristics, measureable and non-measureable characteristics, and attributes and…

For decades research on mass media in political campaigns has yielded little evidence of direct, significant effects. Most survey research on elections found adequate explanations for voting decisions while excluding the impact of mass media. Although the increasing use of expensive television advertising campaigns is evidence of the confidence of…

Although Frederic Hudson's "Journalism History in the United States from 1690 to 1872," the first major survey of American journalism, has been a major reference since its publication in 1873, an examination of book reviews that appeared in the New York press following the book's publication reveals surprisingly sharp criticisms of the…

Four problems are identified concerning politics and power as they relate to public schooling. The first problem is the definition of basic terms and the development of a vocabulary common to researchers investigating the field. Second is the problem of collecting information on and evidence of the political process. This problem is complicated by…

Purposes and alternative forms of mass communications research are explored in this four-part presentation. Part One examines the origins of, and the differences between, two conflicting types of research: administrative research, in which the mass media are perceived as neutral tools, capable of serving a wide range of purposes; and critical…

This is the second of a series of three volumes containing papers from a bilingual symposium held in 1975. Presentations and discussion at the symposium dealt primarily with suggestions for research which linguists should undertake to assist bilingual programs. This volume contains the following papers: "A Survey of Research in Syntax," by Arnold…

Presented are seven child research and development papers delivered at the 1973 American Psychological Association Symposium in Montreal. Described are the beneficial results produced by relevant goal oriented researchers who become directly involved with societal problems. Advocated is the need for psychology to become more historical, empirical,…

Examined are several tests designed to measure language development in retarded children and possible options for research. Past attempts (such as Berko's Test of Morphology) to evaluate retarded children's linguistic development are criticized for inadequate language definitions and invalid testing methods. Suggestions for data-gathering options…

The author discusses a need for planning research in reading, since present research seems fragmented, the federal government has not functioned especially well in the area of planning for funding or coordination with professional organizations, and there is a need to attract scientists in a variety of disciplines to work in educational research.…

The classes and class members of function words are examined in detail in this paper in order to determine those which are most basic and most important to comprehension at the kindergarten through first-grade level. Noun determiners and pronouns, verbal determiners, and prepositions were found to be of importance, as were a small number of…

Presented are proceedings from a 1975 Bureau of Education for the Handicapped sponsored conference on research needs related to the education of the severely handicapped. It is explained that participants (whose names are listed in an appendix) focused upon the identification of research needs in four major areas: goals (remarks by M. Gold),…

The basic problem in designing change efforts and in assessing them is determining which processes or consequences count and by how much. Whether it is teaching or learning that needs to be changed has to be determined. So it is with class size. What is to be changed as well as how that change is to be measured needs to be determined. The key…

Questionnaires submitted to 454 Pennsylvania teachers indicated that only a small percentage utilize teaching ideas gained directly from reading research. Poor communication between researchers and teachers can be attributed to the underlying purposes for research and the methods through which it is disseminated. The undertaking of research…

In this paper, the author discusses the need for educational reform that will make public schools more thorough and efficient, and at the same time more humane. These changes can best be realized, he argues, through a curriculum that is organized around a system of required educational competencies rather than around required courses. Instituting…

Presented are 18 papers on predicting adolescent drug abuse. The papers have the following titles: "Current Issues in the Epidemiology of Drug Abuse as Related to Psychosocial Studies of Adolescent Drug Use"; "The Quest for Interpersonal Predictors of Marihuana Abuse in Adolescents"; "Assessing the Interpersonal Determinants of Adolescent Drug…