An 11 page chapter from a sixth grade social studies text was used in a study assessing the complexities of comprehending social studies materials and the sensitivity of prospective and experienced teachers to these complexities. A sentence-by-sentence analysis of the thinking operations required for mastery of the material showed that numerous…

A total of 905 students and 51 teachers were involved in a two-phase study of the teaching of basic reading skills in secondary schools. The first phase of the study used an observation instrument, student ratings, a teacher questionnaire, and a reading achievement test to identify teaching processes that are efficient in helping secondary school…

Microteaching and the technical skills approach to teacher training began at Stanford University in 1963 as part of a preservice training program. The main skills that emerged from the program and were focused on from 1963-68 were response repertoire, creating student involvement, questioning skills, increasing student participation, and…

A rationale is presented for both investigating the context of educational organizations and building in a program renewal capacity as an essential operational component of every such organization. The findings of several program evaluation studies conducted at the University of Alberta's Faculty of Education are reviewed. These studies were…

At present, community college in-service professional development programs are not top quality. Little, if any, budgetary support is allocated for them, and responsibility for planning and carrying them out is allocated to no one in particular. The few on-site in-service professional development programs now in operation exhibit common elements…

This essay presents a list of 11 qualities that outstanding teachers possess, including: (1) flexibility (being able to change plans at a moment's notice and make adjustments accordingly); (2) enthusiasm and energy (showing a drive to excite students and model positive behavior); (3) empathy (acting understanding and compassionate of parents as…

This study compared the success of traditionally prepared student teachers with contextually prepared students from Project Opportunity, which was designed to develop a sense of community among student teachers and between student teachers and college faculty and the faculty, staff, and students of partner schools. Groups of students were surveyed…

This study examined whether a sequence of graduate field experiences integrated throughout a teacher training program would result in differentiated responses of competence and self-confidence. Participants were graduate students in a traditional preservice program (group 1) and those in a more accelerated program combining fieldwork with evening…

This paper examines the direct relationship between curriculum, instruction, and evaluation, suggesting that following a national curriculum and preparing students to take national examinations requires diverse teaching materials, teaching methodologies, and testing techniques to train students to apply their cognitive skills to thinking,…

This qualitative study examined the nature of teacher leadership as it was perceived by 12 inservice elementary school teachers. Data collection involved in-depth, semi-structured interviews with the teachers. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed for analysis. Results indicated that half of the respondents were unfamiliar with the term…

A preliminary study was conducted of the University of Southern California Metropolitan Teacher Education Program, a 5-year program designed to ensure a "tight connection" with the metropolitan schools in the area, with emphasis on the development of professional collegial "teams" of master teachers in inner city schools,…

This study revealed some of the factors that influence preservice elementary teachers' instructional planning in word problem solving by examining preservice teachers' conceptions of how to teach word problem solving. Twenty-one interviews of preservice teachers were conducted before and after the mathematics methods course and the protocols were…

In order to provide teachers with support for the improvement of computer-based problem solving, this paper considers the following research questions--and provides answers--about how to teach students problem solving and how to design training courses for teachers: (1) What are the teachers' and researchers' assumptions about the relation between…

A study was conducted to identify and measure theoretical dimensions of teacher empowerment in 307 venture capital schools in Ohio. (The Ohio state legislature established venture capital grants to support school improvement; these grants serve as catalysts for local schools to redesign their internal structures.) Data were gathered from 4,091…

Entrance into the teaching profession is often a situation of disappointment or "reality shock." As shown by previous researchers, teacher burnout is higher in the beginning of the career. Among the causes are inadequate initial teacher training and the lack of initial motivation. In order to study this phenomenon, the transition of 214…