In the practice of teacher education, most would agree that critical reflection in and on the process of learning to teach and the activities of teaching play a central role in teachers' professional development. Using Vygotskian sociocultural theory, we examine how narrative inquiry functions as a culturally developed tool that mediates teachers'…

A four-stage model was tested to examine the processes by which new faculty became members of three academic departments within a higher education institution. Attention was directed to the ways in which different academic subcultures select and socialize new faculty and the degree to which identity and role orientation are carried over, or…

This paper explores the concept of reflection and reflective practice in teacher education. Teaching is a complex achievement that brings together a number of conceptual, practical, and physical resources in an individual's professional practice. Achievement in teaching is an amalgam of at least four different discourses--science, craft, art, and…

Research on beliefs about second language learning based on a model designed by Elaine Horwitz is reviewed. The model is incorporated in the Beliefs About Language Learning Inventory (BALLI) developed for students of English as a Second Language, college students of commonly taught languages (French, German, Spanish), and college teachers of…

This paper reports on a study to document influences on five beginning mathematics and science teachers' instructional beliefs after a preservice methods course in secondary literacy. The participants were former military officers who had selected teaching as a second career. The study looked at: the teachers' beliefs about uses of literacy in…

A study was made of 10 practicum students in the College of Education at Louisiana Tech University and 7 cooperating teachers at a nearby middle school. The purpose of the study was to describe and analyze the practicum experience and its role in the preparation of middle school practicum students. Analysis of the study data yielded several…

Because traditional performance measures may not accurately assess what students learn or are taught, some K-12 classroom teachers, states, and teacher preparation programs are beginning to use portfolio assessment to document learning and growth in learning over time. Portfolio assessment is considered a more authentic way of evaluating and…

The Pennsylvania Action Research Network project was initiated in 1995-1996 to provide Pennsylvania literacy educators with the following: a better method for taking published research findings and testing and adapting them in their own classrooms; a way to study their own research ideas on a daily-action basis; and a systematic way to share and…

This study describes what some urban teachers at one school believe and know about literacy teaching and learning, and relates what they believe and know to two contrasting viewpoints about the way students become literate (mechanism and contextualism). Quantitative and qualitative measures were used to create summaries of teacher beliefs and…

This 2-year study of the effectiveness and quality of continuing professional education (CPE) in the United Kingdom identified policy implementation issues resulting from recent government policies and economic imperatives which have given rise to a "new managerialism" which is changing the organizational culture of higher education…

While most of the existing literature on attribution retraining focuses on children's attributions for academic or achievement related tasks, teachers' attribution styles also are an important target for modification. This study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of a 1-day training workshop designed to significantly alter teachers'…

In spring 1984, six English instructors at Clinton Community College (CCC), in New York State, were asked to incorporate an instructional unit on library skills into their freshman English classes. To assess the overall effectiveness of the unit, a study was conducted comparing the course grades and test scores of the students who received library…

The relationship between productivity and aging in the context of the college faculty roles of teaching, research, and service is considered, based on a literature review on worker and faculty productivity and on theories of aging (i.e., biological, physiological, psychological, and sociological perspectives). It is concluded that faculty…

Policies directed at improving the educational system are often based upon a rationalistic view of the processes of teaching and schooling. The courts and other branches of government are devoting more attention to regulating schooling. As the rights of students have been articulated through litigation and legislation, the duties of schools have…

A TWO-YEAR COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROJECT (1965-1967) WAS CONDUCTED TO SYNTHESIZE THE BODY OF AVAILABLE EMPIRICAL KNOWLEDGE RELATED TO EDUCATIONAL PRACTICE IN A MANNER TYPICAL OF SCIENTIFIC THEORY CONSTRUCTION AND TO DEVELOP A DICTIONARY OF OVER 600 COMMON EDUCATIONAL TERMS OPERATIONALLY DEFINED IN AN APPENDED GLOSSARY. THE THREE MAIN PHASES OF THE…