This paper argues that teachers' beliefs and attitudes affect not only their instructional decisions and human relationships, but also their willingness to seek professional knowledge, particularly when such knowledge contradicts their beliefs. Results obtained from a case study on K-5 staff development through inquiry are used to illustrate what…

Each year, many teachers face the problem of where to place children who do not fit into the rest of the class. Retention is an option that is frequently considered for these children. Children considered for retention often have poor academic skills, are small in stature or the youngest in the grade, have moved or been absent frequently, do…

Based on observations, interviews, and review of videotapes with teachers, this book examines why developmentally appropriate practice is difficult to construct in early childhood settings. It focuses particularly on some teachers' simultaneous allegiance to two contradictory frameworks of practice, termed developmentally appropriate practice and…

In 1989, the Lethbridge Catholic Schools (LCS) in Alberta, Canada, undertook a project to identify affective qualities valued as significant outcomes of education in Alberta, devise a system for monitoring and recording behaviors which express these qualities, and assist educators in their efforts to teach and model the behaviors. This report…

A rationale for determining what evaluations of AIDS education programs should assess is outlined. The rationale is based in: educational theory with a distinction made between knowing and understanding and an emphasis on helping learners understand the concepts being taught; and teacher development literature and theories, with assessment of…

The purpose of this study is twofold: (1) to identify beginning teachers' perceptions of the role parents play in their children's education; and (2) to investigate the congruency of beginning teachers' perceptions with information presented in teacher education courses. A survey, completed by 178 second- and third-year teachers in Missouri,…

Through the analysis of qualitative data from journals, interviews, class reflection, and classroom dialogue, two language arts methods instructors traced the effects of their college methods courses on student teachers and first year teachers. They investigated the students' willingness to use strategies they had tried and seen demonstrated in…

This progress report of ethnographic research on instructional leadership focuses on a new elementary school principal's role formation in relation to teaching staff and district organizational culture. The project, which examines the prevailing notion of instructional leadership in school effectiveness literature, reveals a gap in perspective…

The paper describes how certain questionnaire items concerning teacher-claimed behavior might define a teacher's effort to maintain order in the classroom. Subjects consisted of 255 secondary school teachers teaching in examination classes (Forms 3 and 5) at 15 schools in the District of Kuala Terengganu (Malaysia). The teachers responded to a…

Differing attitudes of researchers and preschool teachers towards research in early childhood are discussed in this paper. These differences are seen as arising from causes such as the special training of each group and the nature of the work they do, the distribution of the sexes in each group and the social institutions which back them. The…

A faculty development program that encourages faculty from different disciplines to engage in research on student cognition, motivation, and self-regulated learning in their own classrooms teaches theory as well as practice. The program has been well received by faculty and has also produced useful results for academic departments and the…

Discusses the reasons for mediocre child care programs and how programs could be improved by examining the relationship between high quality care for children and the organizational climate for adults. Shows how research findings are often not put into practice. Outlines Model Work Standards, standards that have the potential to improve programs…

This paper describes a case study of the use of cases in teacher education, comparing the responses of three prospective teachers to three cases of teaching. In an introduction to teaching course, the teacher educator used the three cases to provide alternative images of practice, hoping to influence the students' beliefs about teaching and about…

Invitational education is a general framework for thinking and acting about what is believed to be worthwhile in schools. It centers on five basic principles: (1) people are able, valuable, and responsible, and should be treated accordingly; (2) educating should be a collaborative, cooperative activity; (3) the process is the product in the…

Three approaches to in-service development for teachers (action research, skills development, and materials dissemination) were compared using a multimethod evaluation design with innovation-specific and general outcome measures for students and teachers. Thirty-three teachers and their students participated in a project to teach students how to…