Designed to assist science educators in improving inservice teacher education, this yearbook contains resources and ideas addressing the application of recent research into a format suitable for practitioners. The eight chapters comprising the document deal with: (1) meeting the needs of science teachers for continuing education; (2) guidelines…

Rural education trends in the 1980s--influenced by decreased federal, state, and local funding and demands for higher academic standards and greater accountability--will have a significant impact on staff development in small and rural schools. Along with ebbing support for compensatory education and increased focus on math and science…

Major local-, state-, and university-designed programs with the objective of fostering instructional effectiveness at the elementary school level are described in this paper. Instructional effectiveness is defined as a prerequisite to academic achievement in that it occurs when all students obtain at least minimum academic mastery as measured by…

A major transformation in teacher education must occur if social studies education is to become soundly-based civic education that meets the needs of special interests, such as global education, without becoming dominated by those needs, and if teachers are to transcend the textbook so that goal statements are actually reflected in classroom…

Eleven recent reports related to excellence in education were examined, and their implications for vocational education were interpreted. Commonalities and differences among the studies were identified, and a selection of these was developed further with major emphases on teaching and learning. Topics were selected according to their immediacy and…

A State Issues Clearinghouse was established by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education Combined Task Force on Governmental Relations to monitor and track state activities that impact upon teacher education. This report presents the results of the first survey of the fifty states undertaken by the Clearinghouse. The nine policy…

Resulting from a project involving district, state, and federal educational agencies, the papers in this, the first of two volumes, are intended to provide information from research and practice that can help school districts in their efforts to make decisions about goals and methods of basic skills instruction. The topics of the papers in the…

This book examines the achievements of teachers from all over Great Britain in furthering their professional development. Part 1 presents four case studies of school-based inservice activities. The first is a teacher-initiated inservice activity in a middle school in West Sussex. The second is an Open University student-initiated inservice…

A review is presented of recent literature concerning teachers' attitudes toward inservice programs. One of the studies concluded that items that teachers like at inservice meetings are: (1) active involvement; (2) teaching; (3) practical information; (4) meetings that are short and to the point; (5) in-depth treatment of one concept; (6) well…

Communication and openness seem to have a major impact on relationships. The scope of communication activity undertaken by many university schools of education includes workshops and institutes, periodic meetings, print and other media, demonstrations, and formal and informal training. In all activities, these schools have a responsibility to the…

A search of the literature was made on the effectiveness of recruitment and selection procedures for identifying and retaining administrators and school staff who are effective in managing student conflict and alienation. A classification scheme devised to fit approaches to school discipline within a theoretical framework includes (1) the…

Homosexual adolescents are at risk within schools for many health problems. Hostile school environments can often exacerbate their problems. This article summarizes research on issues related to youth sexual orientation, noting controversies surrounding school involvement in the United States and describing programs instituted by school…

This article provides information on orthopedic impairments and the unique knowledge and skills required to provide these students with an appropriate education. Information on current practice is provided, as well as training and technical assistance models that can be used to help provide teachers with the necessary training. (Contains…

This article reports on a team effort by faculty from a public school district and an urban university to create an observation tool to be used to evaluate and mentor preservice and inservice teachers' abilities to address issues of classroom diversity. The observation tool is provided, along with implementation suggestions. (Contains references.)…

Presents an overview of some well-known instruments and recently developed scales for assessing student or teacher perceptions of actual or preferred classroom learning environments. Past research and practical applications followed using the instruments are described. (SM)