A study measured both short- and long-term effects of an educational workshop designed for teachers in the Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion, Israel. Participants were 60 volunteer faculty members who were randomly assigned to one of eight multidisciplinary groups for the 4-day workshop, which aimed at improving teachers' instructional…

Public concern about the effectiveness of education institutions and the accompanying loss of public confidence in the nation's schools has revealed itself in a growing complaint that too many teachers cannot teach. This criticism, while not fully substantiated, has resulted in efforts to establish means for testing teacher competency, seen as one…

Through the process of clinical supervision, systematic approaches permit effective change by the collaborative analysis of teaching. This guide's first section, "Beginnings," describes the process of clinical supervision. Emphasis is upon teachers working collaboratively to discover implicit teaching messages and to assimilate new…

A program training model used at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to prepare special education graduate and undergraduate students to work with paraprofessionals is described. Topics addressed include the following: (1) improvement of instruction and services to handicapped students through use of paraprofessionals; (2) significant role of…

The quality of teaching, teachers, and teacher education is examined. An essay appraises current research and public opinion on teacher competence, noting efforts by school districts, teacher education institutions, and professional teacher associations to improve the quality of teachers. Minimum competency examinations, provisional certification,…

Eight priority recommendations are outlined for attracting and preparing teachers, developing the new teachers, improving the teaching climate, and rewarding effective teaching. Consideration is given to issues related to effective teaching within the framework of seven areas: (l) early student interest; (2) entry into teacher education; (3)…

Techniques for observing the classroom behavior of teachers and students are examined. These techniques provide a framework for analyzing and understanding classroom interaction, for making decisions about what should be happening, and for changing instructional behavior when it is necessary. The observation methods allow collection, analysis, and…

Strengths and weaknesses of systems for evaluating teaching in medical schools are reviewed, and a framework for dealing with issues and critical questions is presented. The model addresses the following areas: goals of the school, the purpose of evaluating teaching, standards that characterize the quality of teaching evaluation measures, measures…

Nonverbal teacher behavior is recognized as an important factor in establishing a positive social climate in the classroom. A feedback and analysis instrument is presented focusing on specific nonverbal teacher behaviors. These behaviors--facial expressions, gestures, body movements, and idiosyncratic characteristics--are categorized as either…

To develop a comprehensive teacher observation instrument, 56 school practitioners submitted 200 critical incidents--descriptions and judgments of their observations of teacher-pupil interactions in the classroom. Five teacher roles emerged: instructional facilitator; instructional manager; instructional evaluator; instructional designer; and…

A SURVEY FORM RETURNED BY 381 FACULTY MEMBERS AND A TEACHER PERFORMANCE CHECKLIST COMPLETED BY 780 STUDENTS SUPPLIED (1) FACULTY OPINIONS OF THE UNIVERSITY EVENING SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE AND (2) STUDENTS' RATINGS OF PERFORMANCE OF EVENING SCHOOL TEACHERS. THE FACULTY FAVORED THE EVENING SCHOOL, THOUGHT CREDIT, NONCREDIT, AND…

Videotaping was used to analyze both video and audio components of the teaching-learning process with educable mentally retarded (EMR) children. Fifteen teachers, both inexperienced and experienced, made 31 pilot tapes, teaching one retarded and one normal child each the single, new concept of a hexagon. The 31 children included 14 EMR (ages 9-2…

A specific scheme is provided for the teacher trainee, the experienced teacher, and the supervisor to assist in organizing and evaluating multicomponent English lessons. Based on the premise that effective instructional moves must be pre-structured and time sequences left flexible, 12 specific lesson/teaching strategies are offered to extend the…

This conference report focuses on higher education and includes papers on the following topics: (1) the role of institutional research, (2) management information needs and decisionmaking, (3) teacher effectiveness, (4) student-faculty ratios, (5) professorial attitudes toward work environment, (6) grading and attendance in the instructional…

By considering such traditional features as validity and reliability, as well as utility, and political and ethical considerations, this paper attempts to establish that student ratings are not credible as sources of information about teacher effectiveness. Several of the most common problems in the related literature are outlined and include how…