Professional development is important to any organization, and sometimes quickly overlooked. The importance of professional development magnifies in institutions of higher education and the AACRAO professions, all of which are in the business of teaching and learning. This article examines how colleges and universities may improve professional…

A survey to determine why student teachers fail and what can be done to improve teacher education is discussed. Five factors of failure are identified: classroom management and discipline problems, inability to relate well with students, poor teaching methods, lack of commitment to the profession, and personal characteristics. (MLW)

Thirty-six high-achieving students at San Jose State College were surveyed on the quality of the university's instruction, with the intent of compiling a monograph of the results to stimulate campus-wide student-faculty discussion of ways to improve teaching. The questionnaire is included. (MSE)

A study of student assessment of teaching assistants in physical education activity courses is described. The purpose of the study was to compare student ratings of instructional effectiveness with teaching assistants' traits of sex, age, degree, undergraduate major, and teaching experience. (MLW)

A study is discussed that examined: the instructional weaknesses and strengths of a teacher education curriculum course, the specific teaching behaviors that students liked and disliked, and specific recommendations which students felt would promote greater teacher effectiveness and improve learning. (Author/MLW)

The teaching "case study" of an outstanding teacher who improved through participation in a teaching/learning research project is described. Data from the study show that students learned significantly more from him at the end of the project than they did at the beginning. (MLW)

An experiment is discussed that tested a 1975 hypothesis of Aiken, Thomas, and Shennum that a "spaced lecture" might help solve the problem of the negative of concurrently listening and writing. Results indicated that the "spaced lecture" was no better than the traditional lecture. (MLW)

The correlation between teaching excellence and research efforts is investigated in a study done at the University of Maryland. Data suggest that productive faculty--as evidenced by their writings, addresses, and external funding--are among those identified by both their students and their professional colleagues as proficient instructors. (MLW)

In order to examine the value of student evaluations of faculty, a survey of seniors regarding the quality of teaching they received in their four years of undergraduate college was undertaken. Topics include: the qualities of the best and worst teachers; preferred teaching methods; and faculty age, educational background, and department…

In a study to determine the relationship between teacher effectiveness and variables related to the organization and value patterns of different schools, teacher interns rated by principals as high or low could be distinguished on the basis of their instructional decision making within the different school contexts. (JMD)

The impact of two methods of individual instruction, guided reading and the learning center approach, on undergraduates in an educational psychology course is investigated. Objectives are (1) to determine which method is more effective in terms of cognitive gains, and (2) to compare attitudes toward the two methods. (JMD)

A survey of procedures used to evaluate teacher education department faculty is reported. Results indicate that procedures for evaluating teacher effectiveness and criteria for advancement are not precise; student evaluation of teacher performance is widely used, although inadequate; and accreditation does affect evaluation procedures. (JMD)