A critique of three viewpoints and a recent study indicate that efforts at instructional improvement face major hurdles. The author concludes that teachers are not very well informed about knowledge related to the evaluation of teaching, student learning, or instructional innovation, and seem reluctant to learn. (Editor/LBH)

The teaching-learning paradox can be resolved using principles of good design and criteria for evaluating good instruction, suggests this professor of psychology. A checklist of criteria for determining the effectiveness of the teaching-learning experience is provided from the point of view of student learning. (LBH)

Faculty development programs vary considerably, as the results of a recent survey of 756 colleges and universities indicate. Activities related to instruction improvement and personal development are being handled by (1) workshops and seminars, (2) analysis or assessment by students, colleagues, or videotape, (3) activities using technology or…

Reports the results of an experiment in videotaping tutorials between student clinicians and 7 to 11 year-old students with learning problems. Concludes that videotaping client and clinician interaction improves clinicians' teaching skills. (NH)

Reviews educational reform literature advocating changes in the organization of teachers' work to foster teacher satisfaction and effectiveness by treating them as reasonable, capable, and autonomous persons. Focuses on participative decision making, learning for improved practice, and evaluation. Decries the lack of parallel arguments regarding…

Describes the National Board Certification system being developed by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Voluntary and uniform nationwide, national certification will signify highly accomplished teaching based on specific professional criteria. Relates the process of setting standards of practice; developing assessment…

Teaching portfolios can be used to document, improve, and evaluate teaching. Teaching portfolios typically include material from the instructor, material from others, and the products of good teaching. Describes teaching portfolios and different ways in which they can be used. Discusses portfolios in the context of peer review of teaching and…

This article offers suggestions for videotaping classroom instruction in order to allow teachers to conduct self-evaluation through self-observation and to develop hypotheses regarding the functional relationship of their behavior to that of their students. Methods of defining, scoring, and graphically displaying behaviors are explained, and…

Teachers deserve objective evaluations that will help them to improve. Delaware uses a four-point rubric ranging from "unsatisfactory" to "needs improvement,""effective," and "exemplary." Teachers' placement depends on frequency of demonstrated behaviors identified in each rubric. For lower ratings, the…

Very few people would disagree that the work of the principal is multifaceted, hectic, and fraught with uncertainties, and given the ongoing press for accountability, the very work of the principal as instructional leader is shifting to ensure "results." There are myriad day-to-day activities that take principals away from the important work of…

This handbook presents findings of a 2-year study that examined the role of the substitute teacher. Findings showed that the problems with substitute-teacher programs were a result of nonmanagement rather than mismanagement. The book offers recommendations for designing, implementing, and maintaining quality substitute-teacher programs. The first…

Although Total Quality Management (TQM) has been adopted at a number of community colleges in the areas of financial aid, admissions and registration, and staff performance, its use is almost non-existent in the evaluation of classroom teaching. Barriers to its application to the classroom include faculty resistance to the idea of students as…

In 1991, the Flemish Ministry of Education enacted a radical reorganization and rethinking of the education inspectorate in Flanders. Presenting an overview of this change, this paper reports on research that evaluated the effects of the 1991 decree regarding inspection funding. It focuses on the ways schools reacted to and made use of facilities…

This paper examines the relationship between various characterizations of the clinical supervision model and teacher job satisfaction. The first part of the paper describes teacher job satisfaction and looks at the history and meaning of clinical supervision. The next part of the paper describes Barbara Pavan's (1993) revised clinical supervision…

The monograph presents the guidelines of the Georgia Department of Education for annual evaluation of school speech-language pathologists (SLP). A combination of assessment methods is recommended including observation and review of records. The philosophy and purposes of the SLP evaluation is briefly outlined and includes identification and…