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THE PURPOSE OF THE STUDY WAS TO EXAMINE THE RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OF SEVEN PROBLEMS IN THE TEACHING OF ARITHMETIC. THE VALIDITY OF THE PROBLEMS WAS INVESTIGATED ON THE CRITERIA OF (1) DIFFERENTIATING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS OF ARITHMETIC, GRADES 3-6, FROM COMPARABLY EDUCATED NONTEACHERS, (2) BEING SENSITIVE TO THE EFFECTS OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHING EXPERIENCE, AND (3) HOLDING SENSIBLE RELATIONSHIPS TO NUMEROUS INDEPENDENT VARIABLES. IT WAS FOUND THAT TEACHERS AS A GROUP OUTPERFORM NONTEACHERS AS A GROUP AND THAT PERFORMANCE IS SENSITIVE TO THE EFFECTS OF TEACHING EXPERIENCE. INTELLIGENCE, READING COMPREHENSION, MINNESOTA TEACHERS ATTITUDE INDEX (MTAI) SCORE, AND SIZE OF INSTITUTION AT WHICH A TEACHER PREPARES ARE INDEPENDENT VARIABLES POSITIVELY RELATED TO PERFORMANCE. THE SPLIT-HALF RELIABILITY FOR THE MOST VALID SCORE WAS .84 AMONG TEACHERS AND .87 AMONG STUDENT TEACHERS. THE STABILITY COEFFICIENT FOR STUDENT TEACHERS, WITH A 4-MONTH INTERVAL BETWEEN TESTINGS, WAS .63. FROM THESE RESULTS, THE CONCLUSION WAS DRAWN THAT THE PROBLEMS IN TEACHING ARITHMETIC THAT WERE INVESTIGATED WERE REASONABLY RELIABLE, ALTHOUGH SOMEWHAT WEAK IN STABILITY, AND THAT THEY HELD THE EXPECTED SET OF RELATIONSHIPS TO THE CRITERIA CHOSEN FOR THE INITIAL STEPS IN VALIDATION. (TC)

An experiment was conducted to investigate three orthogonal dimensions of school districts--per pupil wealth, urbanization, and socioeconomic status--and three aspects of schools--socioeconomic status, weighting of teacher behaviors by principals, and type of supervisory organization--in relation to the level or status of and the valuing of two orthogonal sets of teacher characteristics. The first set was comprised of task performance variables, the second of personal-social variables. First, instruments were developed to measure teacher characteristics. Then a sample of approximately 650 teachers drawn from 52 schools in 20 Indiana school systems was studied. Statistical analysis of the results indicated that school districts above the state average in socioeconomic status hold a substantial advantage in attracting and maintaining intermediate teachers superior in task performance, but there is no general relationship between the task performance of primary teachers or the level of personal-social characteristics of primary or intermediate teachers and any major dimension of school districts. Moreover, the valuing of teacher characteristics is almost wholly coordinate to the presence of a supervisory organization in the school district. (A 26-item bibliography, a description of instrument development, and selected instruments are appended.) (Author/SG)

AS PART OF A LARGER STUDY DEALING WITH THE BEGINNING TEACHER'S ADJUSTMENT TO TEACHING, THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BEGINNING TEACHER'S PERSONAL-SOCIAL AND PROBLEM-SOLVING CHARACTERISTICS AND THE TEACHING PROBLEMS EXPERIENCED BY THEM WAS EXAMINED. DATA WAS GATHERED THROUGH THE ANALYSIS OF RESULTS OF THE TEACHER CHARACTERISTICS SCHEDULE (TCS, ADMINISTERED AS THEY BEGAN TEACHING), INTERVIEWS WITH THE ELEMENTARY SUPERVISOR, THE DIRECTOR OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION OR THE SUPERINTENDENT, AND A QUESTIONNAIRE FILLED OUT BY THE PRINCIPAL OF EACH TEACHER. FROM THE RESPONSES 8 CATEGORIES OF SCHOOL PROBLEMS WERE ISOLATED. SCORES OF TEACHERS IN A PROBLEM CATEGORY WERE THEN COMPARED BY ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE WITH THOSE OF THE NO PROBLEM GROUP ON THE 10 TEACHER CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TCS. AMONG THE FINDINGS WERE--(A) TEACHERS WITH SUBJECT MATTER PROBLEMS DID NOT DIFFER SIGNIFICANTLY ON ANY CHARACTERISTIC FROM THOSE HAVING NO PROBLEMS, (B) THOSE WITH MANAGEMENT PROBLEMS HAD LESS FAVORABLE ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE SCHOOL STAFF THAN THOSE WITH NO PROBLEMS, (C) TEACHERS WITH DISCIPLINE PROBLEMS DIFFERED SIGNIFICANTLY ON SIX CHARACTERISTICS--(1) WARM, UNDERSTANDING, (FACTOR X), (2) ORGANIZED, BUSINESSLIKE, (FACTOR Y), (3) ATTITUDE TOWARDS SCHOOL STAFF, (FACTOR Q), (4) STIMULATING, IMAGINATIVE, (FACTOR Z), (5) TRADITIONAL VS. PERMISSIVE, (FACTOR B), AND (6) PROBLEM SOLVING PERFORMANCE. (AW)

EXPLORATION OF RELATIONSHIPS AMONG TEACHER CHARACTERISTICS, THEIR CLASSROOM BEHAVIOR, AND GROWTH IN PUPIL CREATIVITY USED THREE MEASURES--(1) A BATTERY OF TESTS ADMINISTERED TO PUPILS IN 30 6TH-GRADE CLASSES (MEASURING IDEATIONAL FLUENCY, SPONTANEOUS FLEXIBILITY, REDEFINITION, AND SENSITIVITY), (2) OBSERVATION OF THE CLASSROOM BEHAVIORS OF THESE TEACHERS BY TRAINED OBSERVERS USING AN OBSERVATION SCHEDULE MEASURING CLASSROOM CLIMATE, TEACHER-LEARNING STRUCTURE, AND SPECIFIC STRUCTURING FOR CREATIVITY, AND (3) RESPONSES BY 20 OF THESE TEACHERS TO A CHARACTERISTICS SCHEDULE SCORED BY RESOURCEFULNESS, VIEWPOINT, ORGANIZATION, STABILITY, AND INVOLVEMENT. FINDINGS WERE--(1) IMAGINATIVE OR RESOURCEFUL TEACHERS USE POSITIVE MOTIVATION TO ENCOURAGE PUPIL RESPONSES AND TO INCREASE PUPILS' ABILITY TO GIVE UNUSUAL USES FOR COMMON OBJECTS, (2) PUPIL-CENTERED TEACHERS APPEAR TO ADAPT TO INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES TO VARY MATERIALS AND ACTIVITIES, AND TO OBTAIN IMPROVED FLEXIBILITY IN STUDENT THINKING, AND (3) HIGHLY ORGANIZED TEACHERS APPEAR TO OBTAIN PUPIL INTEREST AND TO MAINTAIN GOOD PUPIL-TEACHER RELATIONSHIPS, BUT THEY DO APPEAR TO RESTRICT PUPIL FLUENCY OF IDEAS. THE AUTHORS CONCLUDED THAT TEACHER CHARACTERISTICS AND BEHAVIOR INCREASE CREATIVE BEHAVIOR. THIS PAPER WAS PRESENTED AT THE AMERICAN EDUCATION RESEARCH ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE (FEBRUARY 1967). (HA)

The first paper in this collection explores the relationships among the five thrusts in teacher education currently under consideration by the Bureau of Educational Personnel Development (BEPD). Of the five thrusts, three are drawn from "Teachers for the Real World": protocol materials, training materials, and training complexes. The remaining two thrusts--the actual models for the preservice and in-service education of elementary teachers and the use of performance criteria--are drawn from the final reports of the Comprehensive Elementary Teacher Education Models. The position of this paper is that the five thrusts overlap and are, in fact, responses to different aspects of a single question: What should a teacher education curriculum be like? The second paper contends that to lead a successful reform movement in teacher education, BEPD should focus on two programmatic themes: the development of a nation-wide system for confirmation of the outcomes of teacher education and the development of curriculum intervention strategies to increase the power of teacher education programs. The third paper outlines the types of payoffs which must be achieved by the BEPD programs in relation to students, professional personnel in schools, and colleges and universities. An examination of the mechanisms most likely to bring about these payoffs leads to a discussion of the costs of the various mechanisms and suggestions for funding. (The CNPPTE report is SP 005 318; appendixes are SP 005 319 thru SP 005 325.) (RT)

CONCERN LIES WITH THE INDUCTION OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS INTO THEIR PROFESSION. FOCUS IS ON THE CHARACTERISTICS OF BEGINNING TEACHERS WITH PARTICULAR ATTENTION GIVEN BOTH TO THE ROLES THESE CHARACTERISTICS PLAY IN THE BEGINNING TEACHER'S SUCCESS AND TO MODIFICATIONS OF THESE CHARACTERISTICS AS TEACHING EXPERIENCE INCREASES. IT WAS FOUND, THAT TEACHERS WITH VERY SIMILAR CHARACTERISTICS BUT TEACHING IN DIFFERENT TYPES OF SETTING MAY FIND THEMSELVES AT ROUGHLY OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE SUCCESS CONTINUUM AS DEFINED BY SUPERVISORY APPRAISALS. THE PARTICULAR TEACHER CHARACTERISTICS ASSOCIATED WITH SUCCESS IN A GIVEN INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT APPEAR TO DEPEND PRIMARILY ON THE SOCIOECONOMIC CLASS COMPOSITION OF THE STUDENTS. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT AND CHANGES IN TASK PERFORMANCE APPEAR TO BE ONLY SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT FROM THOSE BETWEEN THE FORMER VARIABLES AND TEACHER SUCCESS. FINDINGS FORCE A SHIFT IN POSITION FROM THE ASSUMPTION THAT STATEMENTS ABOUT TEACHER SKILL, SUCCESS, PROFICIENCY OR EFFECTIVENESS ARE STATEMENTS ABOUT SOME ATTRIBUTES OF A TEACHER TOWARD THE ASSUMPTION THAT SUCH STATEMENTS ARE ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A TEACHER AND THE INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT WITHIN WHICH HE TEACHES. ALSO INDICATED IS A SHIFT TO THE POSITION THAT THE CENTRAL REINFORCERS IN TEACHING LIE IN THE CLASSROOM.

THE QUESTION OF THIS STUDY WAS WHETHER PREVIOUSLY FOUND RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN INTELLIGENCE AND PROBLEM SOLVING WOULD HOLD UP EVEN THOUGH SEVERAL MODIFICATIONS HAD BEEN INTRODUCED INTO THE CRITERION INSTRUMENT. SAMPLES WERE DRAWN FROM BOTH PROFESSIONAL UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE COURSES CONCERNED WITH THE TEACHING OF ARITHMETIC AT INDIANA UNIVERSITY AND FROM SEVERAL INDIANA SCHOOL SYSTEMS. BOTH WERE GIVEN THE CRITERION INSTRUMENT, THE MINNESOTA TEACHER ATTITUDE INVENTORY (MTAI), AND THE "STUDY OF VALUES." FROM THE RESULTS, IT WAS APPARENT THAT THOSE HYPOTHESES STEMMING FROM THE MTAI AND "STUDY OF VALUES" WERE NOT CONFIRMED. THE BELIEF THAT PERFORMANCE VARIES WITH OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN NEEDS FURTHER CAREFUL EXAMINATION. IT IS POSSIBLE THAT A COMPLEX SET OF RELATIONSHIPS EXISTS BETWEEN OPPORTUNITIES TO LEARN, ABILITY TO LEARN, AND TEACHER SELECTION PRACTICES IN SCHOOL SYSTEMS. WHILE SUCH RELATIONSHIPS COULD NOT BE EXTRACTED FROM THE PRESENT DATA, THE INVESTIGATOR FELT THAT THE VERY PROBABILITY THAT THEY EXIST SHOULD NOT BE OVERLOOKED IN SUBSEQUENT STUDIES. (GD)

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO GATHER AND ANALYZE DATA ABOUT THE PROBLEM-SOLVING PROCESSES OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS IN ORDER TO DEVELOP AN OPERATIONALLY DEFINED CONCEPT ON THE CRITERIA FOR PROFESSIONAL, HIGH PROFICIENCY QUALITIES IN TEACHERS. THREE QUESTIONS WERE ASKED--(1) WHAT IS AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHER, (2) WHAT IS PROBLEM-SOLVING PROFICIENCY, AND (3) IS PROBLEM-SOLVING PROFICIENCY A USEFUL CONCEPT IN STUDYING TEACHER BEHAVIOR. TEACHERS WERE DEFINED AS PROFESSIONAL PERSONS WHO MUST ASSUME AND BE CAPABLE OF ATTAINING CERTAIN EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES DESIRED BY LEADERS IN THE PROFESSION. TYPES OF CRITERIA WERE THEN SET UP ACCORDING TO PROBLEM-SOLVING PROFICIENCY. THESE WERE THEN USED IN OUTLINING A PROBLEM-SOLVING PROFICIENCY CONCEPT AND FOR DEVELOPING A DESCRIPTION OF THAT CONCEPT TO DETERMINE THE USEFULNESS OF THE CONCEPT. IT WAS NECESSARY TO IDENTIFY A GROUP OF ELEMENTARY TEACHERS WHO ENJOYED A HIGH LEVEL OF SKILL IN DEFINING AND RESOLVING TEACHING PROBLEMS AND WHO SHOWED IMPROVEMENT IN DEVELOPING THIS SKILL DURING THEIR TENURE AS CLASSROOM AND LABORATORY TEACHERS. IT THEN BECAME POSSIBLE TO CONDUCT EMPIRICAL STUDIES FOR DETERMINING WHETHER OR NOT THE CONCEPT OF PROBLEM-SOLVING PROFICIENCY WAS A SIGNIFICANT CONCEPT. THE CURRENT STUDY STOPS HERE. DEVELOPED CRITERIA WERE APPLIED TO TEACHER SAMPLES IN THE AREAS OF ARITHMETIC AND READING INSTRUCTION. THESE PROCEDURES AND THEIR OUTCOMES ARE DISCUSSED IN ADDITIONAL REPORTS PREPARED UNDER COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROJECT 419. (JH)

The improvement of college teaching rests not on improving the instructors, but on improving the contexts of teaching. (RA)