Investigates minimum program standards established by all 50 state education agencies for preparation and certification of elementary school teachers. Results reveal a startling diversity about program requirements (general education versus professional education) likely to contribute to the development of excellent elementary school teachers. (RH)

Investigates the extent to which individually guided education (IGE) and non-IGE teachers consider student characteristics when making instructional decisions. (Author/MP)

The major goals of the project reported here were to learn how teachers who are effective managers handle beginning-of-the-year activities and to determine what basic principles of management underlie their teaching. Twenty-seven third-grade teachers in eight elementary schools served as subjects. (MP)

Examines the relationship of the views that women elementary school teachers in the New York City school system have of their work and their attitudes toward the Feminist Movement. (MP)

Examines a variety of teaching practices in several types of specialty schools that have an instructional emphasis and investigates the attitudes of teachers in those schools. A total of 117 teachers from grades K-6 in eight elementary schools participated in this study. (MP)

Compared traditional parent-teacher conferences with an alternative collaborative model that includes students (family-school conferences) in a suburban elementary school. Found that teachers and parents valued traditional conferences as opportunities for information exchange, but both groups reported anxiety that may interfere with communication.…

Explored differences in the understandings, beliefs, and decision making of first-year teachers from reading specialization, reading embedded, or general education teacher preparation programs. Found that graduates of International Reading Association-recognized programs tended to speak in clear and thoughtful ways about their instruction, focused…

This ethnographic study compared the classroom practices of low, moderately, and highly engaging third-grade teachers in eight Catholic schools. Findings indicated that in low engaging classrooms, teachers used many practices that undermined motivation. Moderately engaging teachers used many potentially motivating practices but assigned tasks that…

Compared instructional variables for first through sixth grade special education students who received instruction under different student-teacher ratios. There were significant differences in measures of qualitative and quantitative aspects of instruction, with nearly all favoring lower student-teacher ratios. (BB)