This paper addresses four issues in the design and execution of behavioral observation in classrooms. These four issues relate to the consequences of using different observation intervals, schedules of observation, student sampling methods, and definitions of on-task and off-task behavior for reliability, means, and correlations of time on-task…

This paper presents a concise non-technical explanation of the process of classroom developmental assessment, a child-centered, classroom-centered multi-dimensional assessment process designed to help teachers find out as much as possible about individual children so that appropriate educational experiences can be planned for each child. A…

Research on linkages between teacher behavior and student learning is examined. Present and possible future process-outcome research is assessed with an emphasis on methodological considerations. Compilation of detailed normative data about classrooms, including explication and integration of process-process as well as process-outcome…

This observer's manual is designed to familiarize people with the System for Integrated Language Communications Observation (SILCO), which rates the degree of integrated language communications instruction occurring in elementary classrooms during 40-minute time blocks. Sections of the manual discuss SILCO's development, organization,…

The International Education Association plans for the Second Mathematics Study are deemed inadequate for the identification of the effects of instruction on mathematics education. Suggested modifications are based on the results of two studies. The first is a discussion of major methodological limitations of the Six Subjects Survey. The second is…

This study explored the relationship between classroom instructional processes and the average number of student absences in first and third grades. The data were collected in a total of 166 classrooms as part of the Follow Through Planned Variation Program. The Classroom Observation Instrument, developed by Stanford Research Institute, was used…

This book is divided into 10 chapters. The first deals with the historical development of clinical experiences in teacher education. Chapter 2 explains how it was realized in the late 1960's that a true partnership between colleges and public schools was needed if quality laboratory experiences were to exist. Many such partnerships have been…

Described is a study to determine the degree of relationship between selected classroom and teacher variables and science teaching strategies. The perceived strategies were recorded and measured by the Class Activity Checklist (CAC) which is a modification of the Science Class Activities Checklist (SCAC), (Yeany, 1974). The observed teacher…

A category system was developed to describe content development in chemistry classes. The instrument had three broad dimensions: the Semantic dimension for coding the intent of the teacher in developing content; the Syntactic dimension for coding the actual meaning of the communication; and the Initiate-Supply dimension for coding the participants…

This paper describes the 2-year evolution of an ongoing program of inservice training for public school personnel designed to train observers in the use of a systematic observation technique--the Reciprocal Category System. The 605 participants include teachers, librarians, administrators, and central office personnel. Nine aspects of the four…

In order to compare the behavior of teachers at different grade levels within Project PLAN, a program of individualized instruction, eight observers were trained in the use of a specially developed teacher observation system (PLAN-TOS) which includes 17 categories of behavior, and observations were made of all 66 Project PLAN teachers in the 14…

Although the evaluation of innovations in teacher training is often dependent on observational data, the problem of the reliability of the observations collected by a team of observers has often been treated in a superficial manner, partially because of the difficulties of maintaining an observer team intact over an extended period of time and of…

A study was undertaken to determine (1) if six student teachers who received instruction (in eight weekly individual or group training and feedback sessions) in the use of Bloom's taxonomy would operate within the classroom at a higher cognitive level than a control group of six who received equal time instruction using a placebo-type treatment;…

The PLAN Student Observation Scale (PLAN-SOS) was developed to measure the percentage of time that students spend performing various behaviors judged to be important to the learning process in the system of individualized instruction upon which Project PLAN is based. An earlier document reported the use of this instrument in comparing PLAN…

The text discusses the needs and benefits of observation of severely mentally handicapped children for planning their educational programs. Attention is given to observing and responding, methods of observation, where to observe the young and older child, special situations for observation, individual teaching and observation, and records of…