Compiles policies and styles that administrators can utilize to upgrade conditions in their schools. Includes an inservice worksheet, a checklist for students' evaluation of teachers, and a School Climate Assessment Test. (MLF)

Improvement of teaching performance can be accomplished within the teacher evaluation process if the approach is positive and nonthreatening, with considerable emphasis on peer- and self-evaluation. (Author/SJL)

Discusses the need for inspired teaching and presents eight pointers for the improved performance of college instructors: cultivate general knowledge; plan classroom activities in advance; treat students as adults; provide personal attention; base instruction on personal experience; develop a sense of humor; communicate with colleagues; and…

Portfolios let teachers reflect on their practice while showing others what happens in their classrooms. The article examines the benefits of professional portfolios and describes how to create one (how to begin, what to highlight, what to include, how to organize and revise, and how to reflect on the contents). (SM)

Reproduced are eight selected quotations from books and speeches by Donald A. Schon concerning teaching, teacher education, and supervision. Quotes summarize Schon's ideas on knowing-in-practice, on reflecting-in-action, on reflective research, on capitalizing on uncertainty, on comparing two epistemologies of practice, and on reflective…

Reflective practicums focus less on the design of a product and more on the relationship. Some of the problems are due to role frames and value systems. Solutions to these and other shortcomings are offered. (SI)

Part-time faculty bring real-world vocational expertise to community colleges. They can be better integrated into the teaching process with effective frames of reference for course objectives, specific expectations, and standards of measurement for teaching effectiveness. (SK)

Discusses problems in American schools and suggests how performance technology could help with school reforms. An overview of school reform since 1983 is given, and components of recent school reform are discussed, including personnel selection; job and organization redesign, including decentralization of schools; evaluation/feedback programs for…

Contends that evaluating teaching is just as important as evaluating students. Argues that most teacher evaluation does not examine what students actually learn from the teacher. Recommends the use of written entry performance tests and subsequent written tests to evaluate teaching effectiveness. (CFR)

Why some teachers who were evaluated as marginal or incompetent were able to change teaching behaviors in order to be recognized in later evaluations as competent or even superior was studied with 14 high school teachers. Peer collaboration and self-awareness were most often cited by these teachers as reasons for change. (SLD)

Outlines an emerging system for teacher professional-development based on profession-defined teaching standards and values. The paper describes the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards as a good example of such a system and notes the potential of such an emerging system for overcoming major limitations in the traditional systems of…

Based on a longer report with the same title, this digest summarizes current efforts to increase the quality of college teaching. The report uses a model that views strategies for improving instruction as helping motivate individual faculty members to improve their teaching by actively changing (and maintaining) certain of their instructional…

A well-conceived system of performance appraisal can indicate the conditions and circumstances motivating individual faculty members to improve their teaching. The performance appraisal system must be sensitive to the different ways in which faculty members fulfill their professional goals of teaching, research, and service. The system needs to…

The types of validity evidence that are appropriate for teacher licensure tests are discussed. Included are a discussion of the current popularity of teacher competency tests and the reasons for that popularity. Licensure, certification, and employment examinations are differentiated. Because the area of interest is the minimum competency…

The Developmental Teacher Evaluation Kit (DeTek) and the Texas Teacher Appraisal System (TTAS) are compared in this report. The DeTek model is based on objective analysis, diagnostic procedures to guide inservice planning and professional growth, an ongoing cycle of evaluation and development, and provision of diagnostic instruments. It is limited…