The paper, originally given at a 1986 Ethnic and Multicultural Symposium, emphasizes the need for schools to recognize and understand the impact of culture on student academic and social success. Classroom based assessment and evaluation strategies for use with culturally diverse, behaviorally disordered students are reviewed and discussed. An…

The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate a microcounseling technique, microtechnology, with regard to its effects on three measures of cooperation in young children. A 3x3x2 factorial analysis of covariance was carried out on two of the three measures, with three grade levels, three levels of teacher involvement with microtechnology, and…

Two methodologies for teacher-focused process evaluation--rating scales and systematic observation--are discussed and comments are made about their characteristics and effective utilization to improve teachers' performance. Process evaluation, referring specifically to the act of evaluating what teachers do in their classrooms, may be of formative…

Teacher attitudes (inputs) and classroom practices (processes) were used to predict residual student achievement scores (outputs). A combination of three approaches were used to control for student background characteristics and isolate the effects of school variables: (1) a "residual" measure of achievement; (2) an…

Under normal instructional circumstances, some youngsters learn programming in BASIC or LOGO better than others. Clinical investigations of novice programmers suggest that this happens in part because different students bring different patterns of learning to the programming context. Many students disengage from the task whenever trouble occurs,…

This guide is designed to present a variety of techniques that can be used in conducting classroom observations. Observation techniques are clustered under four major teaching/learning variables: time on task, teacher talk, classroom interaction, and organization and management. Techniques are presented with an overview that details the rationale…

This module, developed by the Research Applications for Teaching (RAFT) project, was written to introduce the preservice teacher to the research base for effective teaching. Particular attention was given to the characteristics of teachers and teaching found in research literature to be associated with achievement and the development of positive…

The document is part of the final report on Project STEEL (Special Teacher Education and Evaluation Laboratory) intended to extend the utilization of technology in the training of preservice special education teachers. This volume focuses on the first of four project objectives, the development and implementation of a microcomputer-based…

This study examined the objectivity, trainability, and reliability of the SRI observational system (developed at the Stanford Research Institute) as it was modified for use in the "A Study of Schooling" research project. Four instruments in the observation system were tested. The physical environment inventory recorded the architectural…

The nature of classroom activities, cognitive learning opportunities, and instruction in seventh and eighth grades within the academic subject areas was examined. The purpose was to describe and interpret classroom learning opportunities in terms compatible with the complexity of typical classroom events and teachers' understanding of those…

A study was conducted to describe the experiences of five preservice teachers who taught in a special practicum without cooperating teachers. Prior to the practicum, the student teachers were interviewed to ascertain their views on teaching reading and what they hoped to gain from the practicum to further prepare them to teach it. Each student was…

Miami University's (Ohio) two-course educational psychology sequence for prospective teachers has been redesigned to incorporate early field experiences. Concerns about the congruence of field tasks with course content, as well as about limiting situational constraints, were addressed by a committee on teacher preparation. Currently, each semester…

Teachers' perspectives on the student assessment process and on the role of testing in that process are presented. Primarily ethnographic in approach, this study includes investigations of teachers' ideas and thought processes as well as observation of actual classroom practice. Six elementary teachers participated in a three-stage process of…

Characteristics that seem to separate effective and ineffective teacher evaluation systems provide a framework for viewing existing evaluation systems and determining necessary changes. Nine commonalities represent the best practices: (1) participants share an attitude that the purpose of an evaluation system is to provide assistance in the…

The study examined social behaviors of 19 gifted and 19 nongifted preschool children. A social behavioral inventory was developed from repeated observations of interactions collected during an 8 week pilot study. Four general categories of behavior were observed and analyzed: verbal positive (greeting, conversation, compliment, concern, laughing,…