This study examined parent and teacher attitudes toward developmentally appropriate instructional practice compared to traditional skill-based instruction in the classroom. The study surveyed parents and teachers of kindergarten, first, and second grade students in Marin County, California. The results of the surveys showed that most parents and…

This study, based on interviews and classroom observation, evaluates what seven fifth-grade teachers in California did one autumn when a controversial new state-approved social studies textbook arrived at their doors. By tracking the teachers' daily curriculum decisions for social studies during the first few months following receipt of the…

A study examined the degree to which certain school phenomena are reported by participants as concerns or activities during their student teaching experience. Particular concerns dealt with included student teachers' problems with curriculum planning, instructional decision making, instructional materials, student assessment and evaluation,…

Using a Curriculum Characteristics Inventory questionnaire, this study identifies teacher concerns and interests about curriculum materials and discloses teachers' attitudes about the nature and characteristics of curriculum materials. Teachers rated six characteristics in the following order of priority: 1) relevance of subject matter, 2)…

Trends affecting the shape and scope of foreign language major programs involve: (1) accountability and explicitness of instructional goals; (2) the dichotomy between the pragmatic, market-oriented perception of language and the profession's view of the humanistic value of language study; and (3) a sense of realism in the climate of foreign…

Explores relationships among student performance prior to instruction, problems students are assigned and performance after instruction in fourth-grade mathematics. Results indicate that assigning challenging materials may lead to notable gains on test of fourth-grade mathematics. Discusses implication of results for possible modification of…

Despite the fact that computers, as opposed to other technologies such as television and radio, have significantly impacted education from several perspectives, a consensus about the effectiveness of computer use in education has not been reached among the researchers. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the advantages and disadvantages of…

A preliminary study examined what kind of writing goes on at a the university: what faculty assign; how they see the function of writing; and what they see as "good" writing. Survey respondents were 1300 regular faculty and teaching assistants in the liberal arts and sciences, with follow-up interviews of 17 selected faculty. The 103…

Presents a cross-sectional, quantitative descriptive study that examined community college professors' attitudes toward online learning. Results indicated that instructors realize the large role of technology and its potential to contribute to increased learning. Confidence in their computer skills was high, and they felt that the increased time…

Presents the case that evaluation is an essential element of successful distance education programs. Uses a synthesis of the program evaluation and distance education research literature to form a framework for conducting evaluations of online programs. Evaluators should assess student performance, determine program and cost effectiveness, monitor…

This qualitative study details four elementary/middle school-level teachers' perceptions of external factors which tended to support or interfere with their initial efforts to implement a process writing approach. These factors included the building administrators, other teachers, state and local mandates, and student response to the innovation.…

Discussion of the application of instructional systems design principles in public education focuses on a study that examined and compared the thinking of preservice teachers, experienced teachers, and experienced instructional designers about instructional planning. Responses to scenarios describing typical student comments reflecting problems…

Three purposes of a study of marketing education (ME) instructors in Tennessee were as follows: to identify the activities they perceived to be effective, to determine the perceptual style orientations of those activities as identified by experts in perceptual learning style research, and to develop a framework for instructional planning that…

This study examined influences upon experienced teachers' course planning. Seven teachers were each intensively interviewed four times about their planning for courses they had never before taught; the interviews took place before, after, and twice during the semester of the "new" course in question. Findings were classified into three categories…

Widespread instructional development (ID) activity in school media centers will remain more an ideal than a reality until school media specialists are knowledgeable in instructional development processes, are convinced that instructional development leads to optimum integration of media resources and instruction, and make instructional development…