Summarizes eight recent ERIC documents and seven journal articles on mixed-age grouping. Includes discussions of teaching in the multiage classroom, Kentucky's Primary Program, developmentally appropriate practices in the primary grades, thematic instruction, attitudes toward mixed-age grouping, and questions and answers about mixed-age grouping.…

This two-page information review explores the controversy over the question of what beginning teachers must know to teach effectively and outlines a tentative definition of "essential knowledge" for first-year teachers. Eleven references are listed. (JD)

Intended for teachers in communications and the language arts who are contemplating alternatives to teaching, this booklet provides a basic approach to communication consulting with fundamental definitions and practical guides to basic consulting principles. The first section of the booklet briefly discusses approaches to consulting and sources of…

This paper examines recent trends in the establishment of state-level policies for the performance evaluation of experienced teachers. "Trends" are defined as the prevailing state-sanctioned currents of thinking that undergird teacher performance evaluation policies. The document includes a paper that reports on the specific nature of…

The themes of teacher autonomy, practical experience, and program rigor are manifest explicitly and implicitly throughout these papers prepared for the National Commission for Excellence in Teacher Education. Both the problems and resolution approaches presented under each theme suggest what can and must occur in teacher education to enhance the…

Principals and teachers are becoming frustrated with conventional evaluation practices typically used to determine teacher effectiveness and, thus, tenure and promotion. This Digest explains that as new performance standards are being developed, there are reconfigured assessment designs requiring an array of reflective, analytic skills. Creation…

This digest examines research on indicators of teacher quality. While research on the value of a teacher's advanced degree is mixed, all studies suggest that teachers with degrees in subjects different from the subjects they teach have little impact on students. There is no strong consensus about the value of pedagogical preparation for teachers,…

A comprehensive analysis of literature on field experiences for the preservice teacher is divided into sections which focus on the: (1) influences of field experiences on the attitudes and behavior of preservice teachers; (2) roles of university student teacher supervisors and cooperating teachers; (3) structure of field experience programs and…

This publication is an outcome of a conference sponsored by Emory University's Center for Urban Learning/Teaching and Urban Research in Education and Schools. The essays included in the volume address how to build schools and educate youth in ways which honor, build on, and involve all students and citizens, and the importance of preparing…

Two issues that bear directly on the proficiency of teachers are teacher selection and teacher supervision. A theme common to both issues is that the key to attracting and retaining capable teachers lies in a transformation of teachers' work environment--replacing the bureaucratic model of schooling with the professional model. That transformation…

One in a series of 12 publications on two-year science education, this four-part monograph examines biological education as revealed by a literature review, a study of the catalogs and class schedules of 175 representative two-year institutions, and survey responses of 160 biology instructors. Part I first presents the findings of a review of the…