The relationship between teachers' statements about classroom tasks and the degree of subsequent student engagement were studied to test the influence of teachers' expectations. Task presentation statements made by teachers in 6 reading and mathematics classes for the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades were classified according to 18 categories of…

Twenty-eight second and third grade classrooms in Austin, Texas were observed for approximately thirty hours each, using an elaboration of the Brophy-Good Dyadic Interaction Observation System. These process data were then analyzed for differences according to grade, student sex, and student socioeconomic status (SES). Grade and sex differences…

Classroom process data indicate that teacher praise cannot be equated with reinforcement. Often it is not even intended as reinforcement, and when it is, it frequently has some other function. The meanings and functions of behaviors typically included under the category of teacher praise are determined by the degree of congruence between verbal…

Two primary lines of investigation are involved in this study of elementary school teacher effectiveness. The first focuses on individual differences in students and how these affect teacher expectations, attitudes, and behavior, and the process involved in the formation and change of expectations and attitudes. The overwhelming conclusion that…

Elementary teachers read vignettes depicting incidents involving (fictional) students who presented chronic behavior problems, and then told how they would respond if the incidents occurred in their classrooms. Responses were coded for attributions about the students and about the teacher's roles in causing and remediating the problem. Teachers…

This research was carried out to discover why student perceive differential teacher treatment when behavioral data suggest that teachers provide the same learning environment for both sexes. The research was carried out in four first-grade classrooms in a small Texas school district; in each class three girls and three boys rated high in…

This study examined the contention that teacher instruction in the "correct use" of classroom equipment, as in the Montessori training method, inhibits a child's ability to generate other uses for that same equipment. Subjects were 31 matched pairs of four- and five-year-olds from two Montessori preschools and two traditional nursery…

This paper reviews educational theory and research on student learning gains (especially in basic skills in elementary grades) and on motivating students to value and engage willingly in academic tasks. Research on the link between teacher behavior and student learning and attitudes is addressed in the first section, followed by a section…

Recent research on teacher planning, thinking, and decision making is reviewed. The work on planning reveals that teachers typically do not use the objectives-based, rational models stressed in textbooks, but instead concentrate on the activities included in a curriculum as they seem to relate to the needs and interests of the students. This…

The Student Attribute Study identified student characteristics and behaviors related to teacher expectations and attitudes. Children in grades two through five were identified who received consistent teacher rankings (high, medium, or low) over a two-year period on one or more of 13 bipolar scales describing student characteristics and teacher…

It is argued that research on the nature of classroom interaction and on the relationships between such interaction and student outcome measures must use the student rather than the class mean as the basic unit of analysis. This is due to a number of factors: (a) students in the same classroom, no matter how homogeneous, show great individual…

A method of interaction analysis in which the individual student is the unit of analysis in classroom studies is needed to complement traditional studies treating the class as the unit. Such a method would add information concerning intra-class variation in teacher-pupil interaction patterns. Treatment of the studied are properly conceptualized as…

Literature and research studies concerning self-fulfilling prophecy effects are reviewed in this document. Works concerning the Pygmalion Controversy, the existence of self-fulfilling prophecy effects of teacher expectations, and the strength and reality of these effects are cited. The document's sections discuss the effects of teacher…

The literature on elementary school classroom management is reviewed. Topics include student characteristics and individual differences, preparing the classroom as a learning environment, organizing instruction and support activities to maximize student engagement in productive tasks, developing workable housekeeping procedures and conduct rules,…

Elementary teachers' free response self reports of how they would respond to students' hostile aggressive behavior (as depicted in two written vignettes) were transcribed, coded, and analyzed for relationships to the teachers' grade level (K-3 vs. 4-6), school location (Lansing vs. inner-city Detroit), and rating by their principals and by…