This study investigates the preservice teacher learning in the context of conversations about their field-based challenges. First, a review of the literature explores studies that highlight the role of evidence-based conversation as a mechanism to approach the inevitable problems faced by teachers in the classroom. The subsequent case study…

Reviews clinical and empirical research on functional analysis of behavior, presenting landmark studies in the development of functional assessment, noting implications of functional analysis assessment for schools, and explaining that legislation mandating the presence of children with disabilities in general education classes and discipline…

Explores the cooperating teacher's role as a central feature of the student teaching experience and as it relates to the cooperating teacher's own career. The paper stresses the need for K-12 schools and schools, colleges, and departments of education to acknowledge that teacher preparation is their joint responsibility. (SM)

General educational quality can only be improved through the development of effective screening techniques regarding candidates for admission to teacher education institutions. (LH)

Research relating personality factors to teacher effectiveness is reviewed. Implications for teacher education programs are discussed. (MT)

The purpose of this study was to see how time spent on a computer compares to time spent on another activity when preschoolers are given a choice and whether there are sex and age differences. The 33 children observed ranged in age from 24 to 69 months. Results are discussed. (MT)

Literature focusing on teacher educators is reviewed in an effort to understand who is preparing our teachers. The importance of critical examination of professors in order to strengthen their effectiveness is emphasized. (MT)

Congress is considering establishing a Literacy Corps that will enable college students to volunteer a few hours a week as assistant teachers to students in nearby public schools in return for college credit. How this program would work is described. (CB)

"First Lessons," a government-sponsored report on the status of elementary education in the United States, points out that elementary schooling remains quite good and discusses several characteristics such as student composition, curriculum content, administration, promotion policies, and class size. (CB)

This article discusses the status of the teaching profession, addressing such issues as entry into the profession, the job market, the image of teaching and teacher education, and reform efforts. The success of reforms will largely depend on whether teaching conditions, especially salaries, improve. (PP)

Reasons why teachers do not use educational research are summarized, and an interactive research and development project aimed at overcoming utilization problems is described. In the project, teachers, staff developers, and Texas Tech University researchers worked collaboratively to study problems and concerns of classroom teachers. (PP)

Areas of stress that might interfere with student teachers' performance are identified, and strategies for ameliorating stress are recommended. Teacher training institutions should take steps to alleviate areas of stress prior to the student teaching experience. (PP)

An educator considers the science of education with an emphasis on the nature of scientific thought. Aspects of educational history, certainty and probability, and research implications are addressed. (CB)

The Office of Field Studies at the University of Tennessee Knoxville has implemented a research-based, collaborative-interactive student teacher supervision program featuring the provision of objective feedback during the preobservation conference, observation, and postobservation conference. (CB)

A review of research relating to the writing and use of letters of recommendation suggests that students, placement officials, employers, and authors of recommendation letters should work from facts rather than opinion. Categories such as lesson planning, lesson presentation, classroom management, discipline, and interpersonal relations can be…