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Logical predictions about relationships between school aptitude and standardized achievement, aptitude and teachers' grades, and teachers' grades and standardized achievement can be made from the literature. These predictions are that (1) conventional school aptitude measures should predict standardized achievement test scores equally well for boys and girls but better for advantaged than disadvantaged children; (2) teachers' marks are more accurate for girls than for boys when judged against the sexes' standardized achievement test scores; are more accurate for middle-class than for disadvantaged children; and are least accurate for disadvantaged black males; and (3) teachers consistently give girls higher grades than boys but there are no important differences between boys' and girls' achievement when measured by standard achievement tests. The present study was conducted to test the strength of the relationships between pupil aptitude, standardized achievement and teachers' grades and to determine the percent of variance in grade point average accounted for by aptitude and standardized achievement in a representative sample of fifth- and ninth-grade Mexican-American, Black and Anglo students. (Author/RC)

This report is one in a series presenting findings from a major multi-site investigation into clinical preservice teacher education. The larger study makes available an in-depth description of participants, practice, and outcomes of the student teaching experience in two settings. This report presents, through three selected case studies, one facet of that comprehensive picture: a view of the idiosyncratic aspects of the experience as it is shaped by the individual characteristics of the participants in interaction within a specific context. Intensive examination of the experiences of these three student teaching situations indicated that: (1) There is a lack of an articulated, agreed-upon knowledge base regarding either the context and process of teaching or the content and process of training of the student teacher; (2) Personal characteristics of the members of the student teaching triad are highly predictive of the interactions and evaluations which take place in the clinical experience; and (3) Craft knowledge and "common sense" are the basis of most on-the-scene decisions regarding specific experiences and behaviors. Conclusions drawn from findings, and implications for practitioners and researchers, are included in the report. (Author/JD)

A review of pertinent literature on the evaluation of student teachers is presented. Descriptions are given of differing evaluation approaches and techniques, and several recent works discussing how to evaluate student teachers are appraised. One of these works focuses on what to avoid in teacher evaluation, while others describe different processes and perspectives (for example, horizontal evaluation or competency-based evaluation). Research on the scope and quality of variables employed for particular approaches to evaluating student teachers is examined. The validity of data obtained from these different evaluation methods is analyzed, with particular focus on the tendency of cooperating teachers and supervisors to inflate grades of students well known to them. An outline is presented of data and findings about student teacher evaluations, resulting from a multi-site, multi-method investigation of the student teacher experience. This examination of the process includes descriptions of the strategies used to analyze the various types of data collected. Implications of the conclusions for further research and improvement of student teacher evaluation, drawn from this study, are offered for consideration. (JD)

A review of research on teacher decision making and planning outlines findings on teachers' judgments and classification of students, development of lesson plans, and decisions made while actively involved in instruction. Findings from a major study on student teaching are discussed as they apply to teacher decision making. Because the classroom experience is the student teacher's first exposure to instructional judgments, planning, and decision making, review of the study findings focused on the nature of that experience. Analysis was made of audiotaped conferences between cooperating teachers and their student teachers, individual interviews, and personal journals. Descriptions are given of supervisory conferences as well as the participants' perceptions of feedback; these perceptions were then compared to actual supervisory incidences. Findings indicated that student teachers participated little in supervisory conferences and took a minor role in instructional planning and decision making. Recommendations are made for teacher training programs to acquaint student teachers and their cooperating teahers with a variety of models for planning. (JD)

The types of evaluative feedback student teachers received regarding their classroom performance were investigated. Information was obtained from interviews, journals, conferences, rating scales, and evaluations involving 20 student teachers, 20 cooperating teachers, and 9 university supervisors. This report describes the formative and summative evaluation that took place during the course of student teaching experiences. Content of supervisory conferences and formal, final evaluations are compared to those university protocols regarding the formative and summative evaluation of student teachers. Interview and journal data as well as information reported on individual performance rating scales are described. These data are considered to reflect participants' perceptions, and concerns are compared to conference and final evaluation data to determine congruence. Conclusions are drawn from these findings and hypotheses suggested for future study. (Author/JD)

This report contains findings and discussion concerning the influence of contextual factors upon the student teaching experience. Introductory remarks explain the rationale for the study as well as the substance of other documents resulting from it. A section describing methodology reports that data for the study were collected from two sites: a large public university whose student teachers were assigned to mid-sized urban or small suburban school districts, and a large private university which worked with an urban school district. Demographic characteristics of the two settings (such as faculty composition, class size, etc.) are reviewed, and their possible relationship to several quantitative indicators are explored. Formal rules and regulations, published by participating teacher education institutions and school districts, to govern student teaching are presented and compared. Available data about informal organizational properties, such as reward and support systems for each participant role (student teacher, cooperating teacher, and university supervisor), are reviewed and discussed. Implications of the findings for practitioners and researchers in teacher education are included throughout the text. (JD)

A large-scale descriptive study of preservice clinical teacher education was conducted in 2 sites, involving 88 cooperating teachers, 93 student teachers, and 17 university supervisors. This report discusses the perspectives of the participants. Student teachers, cooperating teachers, and university supervisors are discussed in terms of personality characteristics, cognitive characteristics, and professional orientation. Changes in these characteristics and orientations are described, and outcomes of the experience are examined. Relationships among characteristics, change, and outcomes are noted. Results indicated that each of the participants experienced some change over the course of student teaching. Student teachers showed the most change, followed by the cooperating teachers, and then the university supervisors. All experienced some change in terms of their concerns; however, most of the change showed a decrease in concerns. Appendixes include samples of measurement instruments used in the study and tables displaying the data collected. (JD)

Year-long observations of 51 teachers in 11 junior high schools resulted in identification of 2 groups of teachers who were rated as either more or less effective in classroom management during the year. Subsequently, these groups were observed and comparisons were made of their behaviors and activities during the first three weeks of school. After examining narrative and observational data, several broad themes or clusters of variables emerged to differentiate the more and less effective managers. These areas included: (1) rules and procedures; (2) teacher monitoring of student compliance and following through with consequences; (3) establishment of a system of student responsibility or accountability for work; (4) skills for communicating information; and (5) skills in organizing instructional activities. This report presents an analysis of teacher behaviors for each group in each of these areas. Implications of the results for teacher education and research on teaching are discussed. Appended tables provide data on all of the variables measured and compared during the study. (JD)

This paper describes a study that developed and tested a research measure for investigating the concerns of teachers at different stages in the adoption of educational innovations. Through a review of the literature, the staff of the Procedures for Adopting Educational Innovations project identified seven different stages of teacher concern about innovations and then developed a 35-item Stages of Concern Checklist for assessing the concerns of individual innovation users. The checklist was first verified in a reliability study involving 132 professors and classroom teachers and then administered to a stratified sample of 411 teachers involved with the adoption of team teaching. The checklist data were factor analyzed to compare teachers' primary concerns with their years of experience with team teaching. The analysis verified the utility of the stages of concern model and found that teachers' concerns progress through different stages as they gain more experience with an innovation. (JG)

This report discusses the linear-process relationships in a 2-year replicated study relating observed teacher behavior to measured learning gains. Correlations relate high and low inference measures of teacher behavior to measures of student learning gain on five achievement tests. The sample involved second and third grade teachers, selected because of a high consistency in the degrees of student learning gain that they produced on standardized achievement tests, and their students. The authors conclude that (a) data taken from these early elementary grades contrast in many ways with previous findings from higher levels, and (b) the pattern of teaching behavior that appeared optimal for producing student learning gain in low socioeconomic status (SES) schools differed considerably from that which appeared optimal for producing student learning gain in high SES schools. (A 20-item bibliography and 6 tables are included.) (Author/PD)

This study examined two types of training programs--one in which primary emphasis was placed upon the attainment of subject matter competence and teaching skills and a second in which emphasis was placed upon the development of specific intrapersonal and interpersonal skills as they related to the trainees' acquisition of teaching competence. Attitudes and personality traits of trainees were taken as measure of intra- and inter-personal behavior, while measures from two classroom observation scales and pupil evaluations of their student teachers constituted indices of teaching effectiveness. Analyses yielded 13 trait-treatment interactions in which students who scored below average on basic intra- and inter-personal traits profited most from a personalized approach to training and those who scored above average on these measures profited most from the conventional program. (Author)

This final report of the linear process-product relationships in a 2-year study relates characteristics of teachers to measured student learning gains. Correlations are presented that relate teacher responses on an extensive questionnaire and in an interview to measures of student learning gain on five achievement tests. The sample involved 30 second- and third-grade teachers working in high and low socioeconomic status (SES) schools. Subjects were selected because they had previously shown a relatively high consistency in the degree of student learning gains that they produced on standardized achievement tests. Attitudes, beliefs, and practices, that of teachers of both high and low SES students that correlated positively and negatively with learning gains, are discussed. (Author)

This report summarizes and discusses the results of the Texas Teacher Effectiveness Project, a two-year, replicated, naturalistic-correlational study of the relationships between presage and process variables with student learning product criteria at the second- and third-grade levels. Both linear and nonlinear relationships between predictor variables and the student learning gains criteria (class means averaged across four consecutive years on each of five subtests of Metropolitan Achievement Test battery) are reported. In general, the data make more sense in separate analyses for low versus high SES (socioeconomic status) schools than they do for the combined sample, and a great many significant relationships proved to be curvilinear or otherwise nonlinear. Major findings consistently contrast with findings from instruction in higher grade levels, suggesting that teaching fundamental tool skills in the early grades is fundamentally different from verbal manipulation of symbolic materials that typifies teaching at later grades, and therefore it should be conceptualized and studies separately. Additional points are detailed in the report. (Author)

This paper attempts to identify the inferential logic used by first-grade teachers in forming expectations about student achievement. Data for this study was obtained from an earlier study in which 74 first-grade teachers were divided into two groups to investigate factors that are related to the formation of first-grade teachers' expectations of their students' academic performance. Forty-six teachers responded to questionnaires, and the remaining 28 were interviewed using the free response format. The free response interviews were coded for types of inferences. The two types of causality in events as distinguished by Heider are personal and impersonal causality. It was concluded from this study that in terms of personal and environmental forces, teachers tend to make inferences reflecting personal causality for students perceived to be doing well or average. Causal inferences for for students perceived to ge doing poorly in school also reflect personal causality; however, as the year progressed, causality was increasingly attributed to environmental forces. The first-grade teachers in this study preferred attributing failure to environmental forces. The pattern of causal inferences indicated that first-grade teachers' expectations differentially reflect personal and environmental forces. If a teacher expects a student to do well or average in first-grade, these expectations will be based on characteristics that the teacher believes the student can control. (SK)

This paper is a review of the methodological problems recently uncovered in studying the nature of teacher effectiveness and evaluating the performance of individual teachers. Four problems encountered in the literature are range of measurements, inconsistent instrumentation across similar studies, lack of a generic framework from which to select behaviors to be measured, and use of instruments with inadequate psychometric characteristics. These problems are discussed. From a review of the literature, three general dimensions were selected from the purpose of categorizing classroom behavior and the instruments used to measure it. These dimensions were: (1) stage of behavior on a process-product continuum; (2) level of inference required in measuring behavior, and (3) objectives of the instruction. If the measurement of behavior is viewed as a longitudinal process, four distinct and consecutive measurement stages are apparent: (1)Preoperational (personality, attitude, experience, and aptitude/achievement); (2) Immediate (sign, counting, and rating systems); (3) Intermediate (Likert and Guttman Scales, semantic differentials and check lists); (4) Product (influences other than the teacher, unreliability of the raw gain score, and the teacher's desire to teach to the test). Last, some guidelines are offered for improving the measurement process. (RC)

This study examined the effects of the traditional and personalized approaches to teacher training as they affect teaching behavior and pupil evaluations of teaching. It also identified interactions between training approaches and the personality and attitudes of the prospective teacher. Seventy-seven teacher trainees at the University of Texas were selected to participate in the study. Thirty-nine of these students voluntarily participated in a personalized teacher education (PTE) program, while the remaining 38 students voluntarily participated in a traditional program. Both programs included university work, classroom observation, and practice teaching. The PTE program also consisted of (1) repeated counseling sessions, (2) the differential assignment of instructional tasks and activities based on the specific attitudinal and personality characteristics of the prospective teacher, (3) self-observation of teaching behavior through videotaping, and (4) affective feedback and assignment of tasks and activities related to the self-observation. Personality and attitude scales were administered to students in both programs on entry into training. Teaching effectiveness variables were measured at the end of the practice teaching semester. The program differences for observed teaching behavior and for the student teachers' perception of their training program indicated that the PTE program was producing behavior change in the desired direction. (RC)

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of 22 principles of small-group instruction of young children. The principles dealt only with teacher behavior in managing instruction in the small-group setting and were organized in two major sections. Items described as organization and management concerned getting the children's attention, introducing the lesson, calling on children, and meeting individual learning needs within the groups. Items included under the second category, responding to children's answers, suggested appropriate teacher behavior when a child does not respond, when the child's answer is incorrect, and when the child is correct, and commented on praise and criticism. In the experiment, teachers in nine schools were divided into three groups: treatment-observed, in which ten teachers were instructed in the 22 principles and were observed once a week for most of the year; treatment-unobserved, in which seven teachers were instructed in the 22 principles but were not subsequently observed; and control-observed. The results indicated that the treatment group teachers produced greater reading gains in the students than did the control group teachers. (MKM)

To investigate the relationship between teachers' classroom behaviors and the self-concepts of pupils, four tasks were undertaken: (1) to present information; (2) to provide a perspective; (3) to design organizational schema; and (4) to furnish a conceptual framework for the research. The material categorized as information consists of research studies and educational project reports selected from a review of the literature on teacher behavior and the self-concepts of pupils. In an attempt to provide a unifying perspective, educational research is interrelated with educational reality as experienced by pupils, teachers, administrators, and other active educators. The philosophy of education inherent in the perspective is middle of the road--right of the radical reformers and left of the fundamentalists. The design of the organizational schema is categorization of self-concept into five constructs of self (the bodily self, self-identity, self-esteem, self-extension, and self-image). The conceptual framework defines the interaction between teachers and pupils as a behavioral dialogue (a psycho-social concept of interaction that contains the subjective reality of both the self and the other, and an observable objective reality, which can be perceived as the behavior of the two participants). In conclusion, the investigation suggests that pupils who are perceived as worthwhile, participating, and contributing members of the small society of the classroom will eventually reflect that perception of self as members of the greater society. (MM)

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 expectations. Students ranked consistently by two teachers across two years on at least one of the bipolar scales were identified and observed in their classrooms toward the end of the second year. Process data were collected using a multi-faceted coding system which provided for recording dyadic contacts in several contexts. These codes captured both the quality and quantity of the target students' interactions with their teachers. In addition, classroom observers completed a behavior checklist on the target students they observed. Checklist items, as well as the other data subsets, were analyzed by grade and sex and for high, medium, or low teacher rankings on the 13 scales. Also, in a free-response situation, teachers and classroom observers provided short adjective descriptions of the most salient characteristics of each child. (The background, rationale, and methodology of the study are described in detail, with the data presented in the appendixes.) (Author)

This paper describes the continued development of the "Trouble Shooting" Checklists. These checklists are based on change agent responses and are designed to be predictive of an institution's change potential for the adoption of innovations. The development of two new instruments is described, both innovation-free. One applies to higher educational settings, while the other applies to school-based settings. As in the earlier, innovation-specific forms, the new forms are divided into distinct information areas and identify the ideal situation, marginally acceptable and unacceptable situations for innovation adoption. (Author)

Self reports of classroom behavior given by second- and third-qrade teachers in questionnaires are compared to process measures of the same behaviors collected by classroom observers visiting in these teachers' classrooms. The comparisons reveal a generalized pattern of poor accuracy on the part of the teachers, although there were some exceptions for certain variables. In general, accuracy seemed to be much more related to the degree to which the teacher behavior in question is stressed in teacher education programs than it was related to the degree to which a teacher was successful in producing student learning gains. That is, highly successful teachers were not much more accurate in reporting their classroom behavior than were less successful teachers. (Author)

This document is a report on the activity of Texas Teacher Centers over a two-year period. The two-year study that this report is part of had as its focus assessing the activity of the teacher centers and the degree of awareness and use of concepts and products developed by the School-Based Teacher Educator Project. The stated goals of this project include developing a set of competency specifications for school-based teacher educators, training and recognizing experienced teachers for this role, and, in the process, encouraging cooperation among Texas teacher centers. Three questionnaires were sent to the centers over this period of time, and this report presents the results of the third questionnaire. Two basic questions, with several subquestions, were asked: (1) What is the present state of the scene in Texas Teacher Centers? and (2) What is the extent of dissemination of School Based Teacher Educator concepts and products twenty months after initiation of the Project? Replies to the questionnaire are tabulated and evaluated. A sample of the questionnaire is appended. (JD)

This study compares teacher and observer adjective descriptions of student characteristics to teacher rankings of the same students' characteristics on a series of 13 rating scales. Data reported were collected as part of the Student Attribute Study, a 2-year investigation designed to identify student characteristics which are associated with certain teacher attitudes and expectations. Student subjects were children in grades 2 through 5 who had received consistent teacher rankings over a 2-year period on scales describing such characteristics as self control, happiness, achievement, maturity, and creativity. At the end of the second year, in a free-response situation, teachers and observers provided short adjective descriptions of the most salient characteristics of each child. An analysis of adjective descriptions given for children who were ranked at the high, middle, and low positions for each scale showed that the scales had high face validity and that teachers had probably been considering appropriate characteristics when ranking students on each scale. However, certain adjectives (especially those describing intelligence) were significantly related to several scales, suggesting that they might comprise a cluster of attributes which produced a "halo effect." Approximately 60 pages of data are included. (Author/JMB)

Classroom observation of 28 third-grade teachers illustrated the management and planning strategies that differentiate effective teachers from less effective teachers. Effective managers communicated a workable system of rules and procedures, monitored students carefully, and were consistent in treating inappropriate behavior. Less effective managers did not establish their credibility at the outset of the academic year and were unpredictable in both their feedback and discipline techniques. Discipline and organizational procedures were delineated during the first weeks of the school year by the more effective teachers. (LH)

This report contains an analysis of the mechanisms that connect teaching processes to student achievement and the circumstances contributing to the establishment of treatment conditions in classrooms. The first section is focused on the way in which academic tasks operating in a classroom influence the quality of student learning. The second section is directed to the consequences for students of four types of academic tasks and probable student reactions to these task structures. It is suggested that students develop strategies for managing the degree of ambiguity and risk inherent in classroom tasks. Special attention is given to the way in which attempts to achieve cooperation influence teacher planning and decision making. Implications of this analysis are drawn for interpreting teaching effectiveness data, planning preservice and inservice teacher education, and designing instructional improvements. (JD)

The crucial importance of beginning-of-the-year activities in establishing good behavior patterns in the elementary classroom is asserted. Observations were made of two groups of teachers who were very different in management effectiveness throughout a school year. A number differences between the two groups' first- day and beginning-of-the-year activities were noted. Examples of the behavior of these teachers are presented with discussions on observed student reactive behaviors. It is concluded that effective classroom organization and management during the year can be predicted from the first several weeks of the school year. (JD)

Differences in management and organizational skills of effective and less effective classroom managers are presented. Findings are drawn from extensive observations of 28 third-grade teachers who were observed from the beginning of the school year. Findings suggest that teachers who are successful managers arrange to prevent problems from occurring and that the establishment of useful routines begins early in the year. (Authors)

Three recent large-scale experimental studies have built on a data base established through several correlational studies of teaching effectiveness in elementary school. These three studies have in common a treatment that addresses several routine teaching tasks and suggests some principles and techniques for effectively fulfilling those tasks. All three studies yielded results indicating that the treatment teachers did use many of the behaviors suggested to them and that their students had higher adjusted achievement scores. In this article, the three studies are reviewed and suggestions are made about future experimental studies of teaching effectiveness. (Author/JD)