In three sixth-grade classrooms, students' independent writing activities and interviews were analyzed to identify affective links to prior experience that were used in students' knowledge construction efforts. Learner-centered teacher strategies related to classroom dialogue and activity choice can increase affective/emotional affordances in the…

In a 4-week study, students in one of two high school geometry classes completed three types of writing assignments: summarizing teacher lectures, explaining the process of problem solving, and analyzing incorrect problems on homework or tests. The class that completed the writing assignments had significantly higher average scores on two chapter…

Analyzes 10 widely used secondary history textbooks for references to Christianity and the Religious Right in contemporary American history (after 1945). Discusses the relationship of private faith and public behavior, President Jimmy Carter's faith and motivations, the Religious Right and politics, television evangelism, and textbooks' inadequate…

Compares the scores of elementary education majors at a state university and those of the national population for the SAT and three sections of PRAXIS II: communication skills, general knowledge, and principles of learning and teaching. Relates these scores to the education majors' overall grade point average and grade in a Measurements and…

A longitudinal study of 117 teachers from the beginning of their preservice education through their fifth year of teaching found that attitude toward teaching as a career remained constant during teacher preparation but was less positive after five years of teaching. This attitude was related to 6 of 15 academic and personal characteristics…

A multimethod approach identified barriers and facilitators of action research training as a method to help teachers create school improvement. Content analysis of action research plans developed during training of 14 school leadership teams indicates the importance of technical research skills and the provision of time as a resource to those…

A study of 235 sophomore, junior, and senior business majors found that students with higher levels of reading comprehension and vocabulary had higher cumulative grade point averages, and that 16 percent of students could not read at the first-year college level. Basic skills reading tests administered to entering freshmen may not identify all…

A survey of 330 higher education schools of business examined effects of organizational culture type and managerial strategy on schools' organizational effectiveness. Schools with "clan" culture (compared to "market" and "hierarchy" cultures) were more effective on two of seven dimensions of effectiveness. An active managerial strategy was more…

There is a trend toward abandoning traditional parametric approaches to data analysis, with all their restrictive assumptions, in favor of computer-intensive nonparametric inferential statistical procedures, such as the jackknife and the bootstrap that are based on resampling of the sample data. These techniques are compared with the parametric…

A study investigating the influence of textbooks on teaching strategies in 13 schools compared teaching strategies of 14 secondary teachers using University of Chicago School Mathematics Project secondary mathematics textbooks to those of 14 teachers using other textbooks. Results indicate that textbooks convey pedagogical messages and provide…

Interviews with 10 high school administrators who were leaders of innovation identified three new roles for principals relevant to administrator education: principal as leader of leaders, as advocate, and as catalyst for change. Administrator education programs should focus on leadership of change, continuous improvement, development of learning…

Interviews with 149 Ohio educators asked about the characteristics of successful school administrators and compared results to a similar 1987 study. Being supportive, fair, friendly, considerate, and organized appear to be timeless in importance, while being a strong disciplinarian and visible in the school may be characteristics more reflective…

A study of methods used to ensure validity and reliability in classroom assessments surveyed 625 elementary and secondary teachers in Ohio. Results indicate teachers spent little time conducting statistical analyses of their student evaluation data, and many techniques used were poor and inadequate. Additional professional development and improved…

Over time, variations in describing what constitutes good teaching have included ideal, analytic, effective, dutiful, competent, expert, reflective, satisfying, diversity-responsive, and respected. If good teaching could be observed and measured, the results would not indicate a one-size-fits-all model, but rather demonstrate that good teaching is…

Improving schooling and teacher education will be successful to the extent that educators make the public and budget-controlling authorities aware of the relationship between investment in education and productive citizenship. Until educators become more proactive and willing to serve as "American Reconstructioneers of Culture," our educational…