This paper discusses homework policy as a product of 50 years of experimental research. Part 1 discusses homework guidelines in grades 3 through 8 by suggesting that homework should be assigned, graded, and individualized. In addition, homework should provide feedback about student achievement that includes parental monitoring. Part 2 recommends…

This paper deals with questions having to do with the nature and effects of teachers' beliefs about schooling, and to the psychological relationship between theory and practice. It is posited that teachers' beliefs are likely to have a profound influence on their actions. A critical analysis of current school performance and teacher education…

Focusing on the use of popular magazines in interpersonal communication instruction, this paper argues that such magazines can provide a rich source for application and criticism of interpersonal communication processes in everyday life. The first section of the paper reviews research and criticism dealing with the content of magazine articles…

A description is given of a model teacher preparation program under development at Memphis State University, Memphis, Tennessee. The model emphasizes more intensive preparation of prospective teachers in their teaching content fields, demonstrable accountability for both knowledge and skill acquisition in the various areas of professional…

This study evaluated the effect of a comprehensive training program for teachers based on Madeline Hunter's Instructional Theory Into Practice (ITIP). To examine the question of implementation, teachers in the first through fourth grades in Napa Valley elementary schools were observed teaching two reading and two mathematics classes before and…

A study examined the extent to which teachers maintained that educational research provided them with practical suggestions for improving instruction. In addition, the study sought to determine why educational research may not influence classroom teaching. A total of 159 elementary and secondary school teachers from 5 districts in the Southwest…

Analyzes W. Barnett Pearce's "Coordinated Management of Meaning" theory--finding philosophical flaws and equivocations inherent in the model proposed within the theory. Argues that by making all the terms of their hierarchy conform to the notion of "episodic" communication, Pearce reintroduces basic errors about the nature of…

Examines four topics in composition research that are pertinent to journalism instruction: writing as process, writing across the curriculum, modes of instruction, and dealing with errors. (FL)

Provides recommendations for improving the quality and relevance of rehabilitation research. Recommendations include (a) increasing positive collaboration among researchers, practitioners, and disabled consumers in the planning, designing, and implementation of rehabilitation research projects; (b) expanding the use of single-case experimental…

Discusses T. Eagleton's view of rhetoric as a study of the political power of discursive practices, comparing it to views of other theorists. Argues that composition faculty should welcome Eagleton's socialist-inflected revival of rhetoric because he embeds it in a deconstruction of the polarities that marginalize writing teachers and empower the…

Notes the problem in reading instruction of teaching children both one-to-one representational meaning of words and world-meaning of words, a distinction that can alter their perception of truth as found in written works. (JC)

Presents a hypothetical situation of an elementary school principal's concern at students writing during reading time, and offers a possible teacher's response with information about the direct tie between writing and reading improvement. (JC)

Answers James Stiff's criticism of the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) of persuasion. Corrects certain misperceptions of the ELM and criticizes Stiff's meta-analysis that compares ELM predictions with those derived from Kahneman's elastic capacity model. Argues that Stiff's presentation of the ELM and the conclusions he draws based on the data…

Presents observations of how a particular teacher education program, the Open Education Alternative Program at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada, incorporates the acquisition of teaching skills into the "reflective" practice of these skills. (BB)

Children's joint production and maintenance of a peer culture in preschool settings is crucial to their development of a social identity. Theoreticians and researchers should consider what it is actually like to be a child to understand better how children's activities model and prepare them for the adult world. (Author/JL)