This manual will familiarize data users with the procedures followed for data collection and processing of the base-year teacher component of the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988. A corollary objective is to provide the necessary documentation for use of the data files. The manual provides a wide range of information on topics related…

This paper draws on data from a larger case study of teacher development to identify what knowledge teachers value most highly in their professional development. The study found that teachers appraise the sources of knowledge available to them through formal, informal, and personal means according to three main criteria: relevance, capacity for…

A study was designed to generate a description of 5 elementary school teachers' judgment processes during marking (of 152 students) across a school year. The findings support a model of the marking judgment constructed from the strategies and cues that emerged through analysis of marks, record books, and interviews. The model presents a…

Explains the convergent and discriminant validity of two tests of science process skills with two tests of formal reasoning ability. Reports test results from elementary education majors and discusses the tests' intercorrelations. Implications related to instruction are analyzed. (ML)

Tested the effect of two systematically designed persuasive communications on attitudes toward energy conservation of 85 preservice elementary teachers differing in energy-related developmental advancement. One finding is that two-sided communication was more effective than one-sided communication regardless of level of developmental advancement…

Examined the effects different communicators (science methods instructors, supervisors, graduate assistants, and others) had on the attitudes of 25 elementary education majors toward science and science teaching, focusing on which communicators were perceived as being the most credible. (DH)

Questionnaire responses from 6 samples totaling about 2,000 third- and fourth-grade teachers were analyzed regarding the extent to which gifted and talented students receive differentiated education in regular classrooms. The study found that teachers made only minor modifications in the regular curriculum, with provision of thinking and…

Some common complications that arise in collaborative research between school and university researchers, as well as some conditions for successful collaboration are described in this report. Difficulties possibly attributable to developmental levels of the researchers are discussed utilizing Kegan's (1982) theory of constructive developmentalism.…

Over the past decade there has been a substantive change in the role of practitioners in educational research. Grassroots efforts in action research highlight the importance of educators' own understanding of their practice. This book, which stems from a school-university collaboration, describes the theory and methods for conducting…

This study investigated relationships between willingness to teach and selected variables including personal, familial, school, and social factors among teachers of the mentally retarded in Taiwan. Participants included 527 elementary and junior high school teachers of the mentally retarded. Personal factors statistically correlated with teaching…

This study explores issues of importance to gay and lesbian teachers. It seeks to answer questions and to dramatize the damaging effects of homophobia on the lives of gay teachers, as well as all teachers and students. The project was narrative and qualitative, consisting of informal and open ended interviews of 10 self-identifies gay or lesbian…

This study involved the selection and adaptation of a writing assessment procedure for teachers and researchers in the Duval County Public Schools (Florida) to use in assessing changes in writing ability among elementary grade students. Through a review of the literature, four writing assessment procedures (analytic, holistic, focused holistic,…

Teacher efficacy is a critical variable in teacher and school effectiveness. The Teacher Efficacy Scale was used to assess teacher efficacy and investigate its relationship to teacher use of time, student time on task, and student achievement. Classroom observations were gathered from 14 teachers, grades 4-6, at two schools. Teacher allocation of…

Teachers from the Austin Independent School District were identified as providing exemplary instruction to elementary Hispanic limited English proficient (LEP) students based on a comparison of predicted versus actual achievement scores in reading, language, and math. Predicted performance was based on equations generated by stepwise linear…

Research has shown that wait-time (the amount of silence between teacher and student echances) is a part of an interdependent student-teacher interaction system and that the manipulation of this variable has measurable effects on teacher input variables, student outcome variables, and acquisition variables. Since the acquisition of extended…