Increasing teachers' senses of efficacy toward educating minority, poor, and low achieving students is an important element of school restructuring. Changing societal values toward individual differences and misconceptions about students' abilities to learn is essential. Teacher behaviors that are effective with low achievers are effective for all…

Addresses three critical issues challenging South African and U.S. efforts to improve teacher quality: equity, demographics, and violence. Both countries want education to ameliorate long-standing racial inequities by improving teacher qualifications; both face increasing enrollments and teacher shortages; and both have high crime rates. (Contains…

This practicum identified the problem of inconsistent use of developmentally appropriate practices by staff in an early childhood center and implemented an inservice program to increase the use of activities based on individual appropriateness rather than on age alone. The solution strategy utilized a self-assessment survey of classroom practices…

This study describes the existing "state of the state" with regard to preservice elementary science preparation at colleges and universities in Texas. Data consisted of responses from 61 educational institutions involved in elementary teacher preparation on a 50-item survey mailed to 98 institutions in Texas. Data analysis focused on…

This paper reports the evaluation of a project undertaken by the Sarawak Education Department to improve the quality of education in upper primary classes in rural Sarawak, Malaysia. The project is known officially as the Programme for Learning Enrichment, and commonly as the Van Leer Project, after the international agency which provides the main…

Presented is the executive evaluation report of the Project City Science (PCS). The PCS, a program conducted by New York University and funded by NSF, sets as its major goal the improvement of junior high school science instruction in the inner-city environment. This report consists of five sections: (1) overview of the project; (2) operation of…

Presented is the final evaluation report of the Project City Science (PCS). The PCS, a program conducted by New York University and funded by NSF, sets as its major goal the improvement of junior high school science instruction in the inner-city environment. This report consists of eight sections. The first section, which presents an overview of…

Presented are appendices to the final evaluation report of the Project City Science (PCS). The PCS, a program conducted by New York University and funded by NSF, sets as its major goal the improvement of junior high school science instruction in the inner-city environment. The following are some of the 20 appendices presented: (1) first and second…

When Shanahan, Meehan, and Mogge (1994) reviewed the issue of professionalization, they characterized previous discussions and debates as controversial, negative, and heated, marked more by discord than unity. A key point of disagreement was whether or under what conditions certification could be considered necessary or desirable. They found only…

Rural supervision is a comparatively new field in education. Therefore its method and practice are not definitely formulated; and supervisors at work, as well as those educators who are formulating courses in the subject, have learned and are learning in part through their own experience and that of others. For this reason they are eager to…

This volume is the third in a series of self-portraits of projects that receive funding from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE). The 31 essays in this volume are grouped around seven main themes: (1) school-to-college transition and retention; (2) rewarding effective teaching; (3) improving teaching and learning; (4)…

Progress made by southern states in meeting the need for quality in education is described, and priorities for further actions are identified. In 1981 the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) offered 25 recommendations to move the South beyond minimum levels toward quality education. Major progress was made with regard to the following:…

A needs assessment instrument was developed to aid rural (upstate New York) school officials in implementing staff development programs and determining special staff development needs for serving handicapped students in the mainstream. Survey responses were gathered from 85 elementary and secondary teachers in 3 school districts over 2 counties.…

Recommendations arising from the Illinois Project for School Reform are outlined in this document. First, the problem of declining academic standards is addressed and it is recommended that new curricula and rigorous standards be adopted. Local districts are urged to adopt a core curriculum, a competencies curriculum, or an integrated themes…

This study reassessed the series of four intensive summer institutes conducted at Mississippi State University on instructional strategies for culturally diverse students to determine the extent to which institute participants implemented these strategies in their respective schools or districts. The Strategies for Instructing Culturally Diverse…