This is the first of two self-studies of my first five years as a teacher educator attempting to prepare preservice teachers for the practical realities of the classroom while being respectful of their personal professional knowledge. I coined the term "relational teacher education" to convey my approach, which is informed by Rogers' (1961)…

To indicate areas for training program improvement, 476 prospective teachers responded to questions developed around educator-identified societal and educational trends to obtain self-analysis of preparation to meet future demands of the teaching role. Less than half felt adequately prepared; most placed heavy emphasis on the practicum component…

The Grimwood Memorial Lecture discusses priorities for environmental education, Toronto's two outdoor education facilities, four areas in which students relate to the environment (knowledge, enjoyment, aesthetics, encounter), international environmental concerns, local/urban environmental studies, field studies in urban Toronto, urban studies…

A 1981 needs survey distributed to 587 superintendents (37.5 percent returned) of all small (1,000 students or less) K-12 Texas school districts shows lack of money to be the most critical need. A critical teacher shortage (especially in mathematics and science) and curriculum development and supervision are other important concerns. (LC)

Presents structuralism as an empirically based way of teaching students how to think not only about art but also about life. Suggests that teaching art aesthetically and pragmatically will help students to not only make sense of art itself but will allow them to understand their own lives as well. (VWC)

Reports on a study of the expectations of preservice music teacher education students about the problems faced by beginning teachers. Students consistently expressed high levels of confidence and felt that they would experience less serious problems than the "average first-year teacher." Includes statistical data and tables. (MJP)

Describes an assessment for art teachers developed at the Art Assessment Development Lab. The assessment involves two parts: a portfolio that teachers develop at their school over at least six months and a one-day assessment of the teacher's art content knowledge. (MJP)

Describes a technique for videotaping classroom performances of native and international teaching assistants (ITA) to teach ITAs about specific, definable English language skills, U.S. academic culture and pedagogical performance, and to help them develop communications strategies for coping with largely undefinable future communicative needs.…

Two preservice teachers working with middle school students with severe disabilities participated in this study of the acquisition, generalization, and maintenance of skills relating to use of positive consequences and instructional prompts. Results indicated that immediate feedback was more effective than delayed feedback, skills were maintained…

Results are reported for a three-year research and development project concerning the knowledge and skills that middle school teachers need to educate students with emotional and behavioral disorders in inclusive settings. Self-assessments of 26 teachers were analyzed in relation to ratings of behaviors of 73 students. Teachers reported only…

Describes a two-year, collaborative, university-school district teacher induction program in which beginning teachers' classroom performance was assessed using a behavioral observation instrument. Participants made significant gains, with first-year gains resulting from improvements in classroom organization and second-year gains related to…

Involving undergraduate teacher education students in structured research experiences is one strategy for strengthening their reflective and critical thinking skills. This article identifies several universities that have student-teacher-as-researcher programs, outlines characteristics of successful programs, and points out problems and obstacles…

Discusses the professional partnership between the George Washington University Graduate School of Education and a local school system that led to the establishment of a successful program of support for National Board for Professional Teaching Standards teaching candidates and for teacher leadership opportunities. The paper focuses on four key…

Stanford's preservice Secondary Teacher Education Program (STEP) undertook a self-study to investigate how its credential candidates who had previous teaching experience perceived the value of returning for formal preparation. Using a semi-structured protocol, 23 STEP graduates were interviewed from 1999 and 2000, asking them about their teaching…

Accuracy in the scoring of writing is critical if standardized tasks are to be used in a national assessment scheme. Three approaches to establishing accuracy (i.e., consensus, consistency, and measurement) exist and commonly large-scale assessment programs of primary school writing demonstrate adjacent agreement consensus rates of between 80% and…