Although it has been clearly established in the literature that there is a relationship between classroom climate and student achievement, teachers often fail to be aware of or consciously attend to their own behaviors which affect climate in their classrooms. The purpose of this study was to examine classroom climate and specifically to document teacher behaviors which seem to be associated with positive and negative climate in two classrooms each for five eighth grade subjects (language arts, mathematics, social studies, science, and conversational foreign language). Four data collection methods were used: qualitative field notes adopted from Saphier scripting, teacher and student interviews, quantitative teacher and student classroom climate surveys, and document analysis of student grade reports. Though no overall significantly negative climates were identified, there were noted inconsistencies in the presence of positive classroom climate elements from one data source to the next. Results supported teachers failing to be aware of or consciously attending to behaviors which affected climate in their classrooms and allowed for the creation of ideal climate profiles.

Many African-American congregations in urban settings have established after-school tutorial programs as a means of assisting students toward better academic performance. While there is some consensus that church sponsored tutoring programs in the Black community are welcome and should be encouraged, to date the research documenting what is actually taking place in these programs and what the responses are of those affected by the programs is generally sparse. Descriptive case studies of tutoring activities sponsored by two churches, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Church of Springfield, Massachusetts and the New Covenant Presbyterian Church of Miami, Florida, form the basis of this study. These free tutoring programs are an attempt to offer remediation to inner-city youngsters within the context of volunteer staffing patterns based upon the caring tradition of the African-American church. Background information was gathered from church and tutoring program records, giving attention to program purpose, evolution, and organization. Interviews and questionnaires were used to gather data on the perceptions of those involved with these tutorial efforts (students, tutors, and parents) concerning the program's effectiveness in helping students academically. A telephone survey of twenty other churches located in differing urban areas was taken regarding their tutoring experiences and these responses were compared with the perceptions of individuals involved in the case studies. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Church program's fifteen year history betrayed a continual metamorphosis in the program while the New Covenant tutoring experience was much more brief, slightly more than a year. Similarly, among the churches programs surveyed, some tutorial programs had long histories and others were new. The perception was widespread among persons involved with the twenty-two programs that these activities were of positive benefit to the students involved. Among community-based organizations, many Black churches have long histories and extensive resource networks within their neighborhoods which make them reliable community alternatives for the establishment of relatively low-cost remediation programs that could prove highly effective. Follow-up research documenting actual impact on academic performance is needed.

This exploratory study proposes to help new bilingual classroom teachers and administrators of new teachers to overcome problems related to discipline in the bilingual classroom. In this study, the respondents are experienced elementary teachers with two or more years in the targeted district's schools. The researcher was unable to locate any studies dealing directly with bilingual classrooms and student discipline. The literature review looks at the related issues of dropouts, absenteeism, rules, beyond rules, teacher burnout, parent involvement, the role of the administrator, the role of culture, cultural differences, bicognition, and teaching practices. All of the above mentioned are germane to the issue of student discipline, directly or indirectly, in American schools in urban settings. A 28-item bilingual (English/Spanish) questionnaire was responded to by 48 of 50 experienced bilingual elementary teachers solicited in this urban school district in Western Massachusetts. Each year, this district experiences a bilingual elementary teacher turnover of about 20% to 25%. The experienced bilingual elementary teachers in this study reflected on their first two years of teaching and described their attitudes and positive strategies for success. Their responses emerged to the researcher as a framework to develop a college course on creating a positive classroom ambience and/or teacher training workshops on classroom discipline and/or training, for the more effective involvement of school administrators. Chapter II should be given to teachers (bilingual or non-bilingual) as a handbook for guidance.

The responsibilities of contemporary principals have increased dramatically and principals continue to be held accountable for school improvement efforts. Leading the school improvement process is a daunting task for principals. In this study, elementary school principals across Massachusetts reported that they consider helping teachers increase student learning to be a high leadership priority for school improvement. Further, the review of the research and literature undertaken for this study argues that principals should place helping teachers increase student learning at the heart of all school improvement efforts and that elementary school principals should make the facilitation of teaching and learning a leadership priority. However, data gathered in this research indicate that elementary school principals spend the greater percentage of their time on management/administrative responsibilities rather than on leadership aspects of their job that help teachers improve student performance. The review of the research and literature undertaken for this study examines the numerous and diverse responsibilities of the principalship, and the contexts in which principals work. The literature review also examines the various ways principals help teachers improve teaching and learning. In spite of the mismatch between what elementary school principals in this study consider to be important and their actual practice, they were able to provide examples of the various ways they are currently helping teachers increase student learning. This study also describes the work conditions elementary school principals across Massachusetts perceive they need in order to improve teaching and learning. The major implications of this study are that elementary school principals need to: (a) find a balance between their management and leadership responsibilities; (b) utilize their discretionary time to help teachers improve teaching and learning; and (c) seek professional experiences to help them reflect on how they can improve their practice. Finally, this study proposes a number of recommendations that may be useful to elementary school principals, organizations that provide preservice and inservice opportunities, educational policy makers, and other parties interested in assisting elementary school principals help teachers increase student learning.

Educational researchers concur that meaningful teacher development is an essential ingredient for educational reform. One professional development model, the Learning Network, provides in-depth, job-embedded mentoring support for teachers by trained teacher leaders. The program developers maintain that teachers who are exposed to a reflective, constructivist learning process centered around literacy will eventually generalize the understandings and practices to other content areas. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine whether the theories and practices of learner-centered teaching in literacy (i.e., the Learning Network) transfer to mathematics during the implementation of a new constructivist math curriculum (Investigations). Two second grade teachers from a suburban school district, one at an early career stage, the other in a late stage, participated in the study. Data were collected from six sources: initial personal data surveys, stimulated recall interviews centered around videotaped mathematics lessons, semi-structured interviews, classroom observations from two different researchers, self-reported classroom practices, and formal classroom documents. Analysis of the data was triangulated across data sources and among an external researcher, the research participants, and this researcher who independently coded the transcribed stimulated recall interviews. The theoretical underpinnings of the Learning Network model (Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development, Brian Cambourne's Conditions of Learning, and the Teaching and Learning Cycle) provided the framework for the study. Results indicated that each teacher had transferred aspects of the Learning Network model into her practices, although the depth of transfer differed. The early career stage teacher referred to the theoretical basis of her actions in vague terms. Much of her self-reported transfer centered around methodology, efficiency, and organizational issues. The veteran teacher expressed specific references to the theoretical basis for most of her actions. Her mathematics practices reflected transfer of most of the Learning Network components. Results of this study suggest that teachers need and desire continued, long-term, individualized support to transfer constructivist theories and practices from one content area to another. The frequency of mentoring support is not as critical as the skillfulness of the mentor. Finally, implementation support meetings need to be regularly scheduled to provide teachers continued development through collegial discussions.

The purpose of this action research study was to investigate pre-service physical education teachers' and their teacher educator's perceptions regarding the implementation of a tactical approach in an 8-week tennis class. Participants were 13 pre-service teachers and the teacher educator, as researcher, in a tennis activity course. Data collection techniques included teacher educator's self-reflective journal, participants' reflections, videotaped class observations, structured interviews, pre- and post knowledge test and a demographic questionnaire. Game play was videotaped for analysis before and after instruction and the Game Performance Assessment Instrument (GPAI) was used to code the data. Reflections and field notes from videotaped class observations, and interviews were analyzed through constant comparison. Demographic questionnaire was analyzed using descriptive statistics while pre- and post knowledge and game performance were analyzed using ANOVAs. Based on results from the questionnaire (years and type of playing experience, self-rating) pre-service teachers were grouped as either inexperienced or experienced. Results from the ANOVA, with the exception of Base Index, yielded a non-significant interaction effect. The inexperienced group's Base Index was significantly higher at post-test (M = 4.32) than at pre-test (M = 1.13), p < .05. Knowledge test results indicated that at the pretest the experienced group scored significantly higher (M = 13.33) than the inexperienced group (M = 10.57), p < .05. Both groups significantly improved from pre to posttest. Teaching using a tactical approach resulted in an increased content knowledge for the teacher educator as well as a shift in overall beliefs about games teaching. For example, learning to use the question/answer (Q&A) segment of lessons occurred in a three-step learning continuum: imitation, rephrase, and dual-directional conversation that shifted the role of teacher from information giver to facilitator. Pre-service teachers indicated that the Q&A segments made them adjust their tactical thinking and as such provided an important source of feedback during game play. Pre-service teachers indicated that learning via a tactical approach was a meaningful experience for the following reasons: (a) the combined learning of tactical and skill execution elements, (b) the skills were immediately applied in game situations, (c) the class was enjoyable (interesting, challenging), and (d) students learned a new assessment instrument.

Secondary physics education in the United States has been shown to be sub-standard, and not even offered in many high schools. National assessment results have suggested that changes in secondary physics education are greatly needed and are slow in coming. One attempt to enhance physics instruction is the UPDATE program. UPDATE is a physics teacher enhancement program offered by the University of Massachusetts. The program is primarily designed to enhance physics teacher knowledge in topical and important areas of contemporary physics that are not always well represented in secondary classrooms. This study assesses the impact of participation in the UPDATE program on the high school physics instruction of the 1995-96 program participants. Focus group interviews, individual interviews, and a questionnaire are methods used to collect data. This document includes transcriptions from both focus group and individual interviews, as well as quantitative results from a questionnaire. Commonalities are drawn from the three sources of data to illustrate the impact of the UPDATE program on participants' high school physics instruction. Aspects of the program which have contributed to enhancement of instruction are also identified and recommendations are made for subsequent teacher enhancement programs. The findings generally indicate that participants became more confident, enthusiastic, gained more physics knowledge, and changed their teaching practices to include more UPDATE related topics. In addition, laboratory experiences as well as laboratory equipment offered to participants during the program contributed significantly to their perceived instructional enhancement.

There are hidden difficulties in teaching a foreign language in a classroom context that have not been examined. Using ethnographic research methods of participant observation, field notes, audio-taping of classroom conversational exchange, and interviews with participants of the interactions, the hidden issues were identified through data analysis focusing on the discourse between teachers and students of Chinese language. While many classroom interaction studies focus on teaching methods or content that should be taught, this research study examines language classroom interactions from a sociocultural perspective. It provides a description of the cultural and social factors that influence the communicative process in classroom interactions. The underlying assumption guiding this study is that effective foreign language teaching and learning is a communicative process that involves more than simply instruction about the formal features of language and cultural knowledge. The purpose of this process is to develop the individual learner's communicative competence. This competence includes not only language competence and cultural competence but also the openness and readiness of the mind and the flexibility of cognition to function in cross-cultural contexts. The study reveals that a central cause of language classroom miscommunication is the difficulty participants have in creating contextual coherence and meaning. This problem is the direct result of the participants' simplified assumptions of cultural and social stereotypes. The stereotyping of individual and power relationships in the classroom hinders the learning process and can lead to underdeveloped perspectives of cultural images and social roles of individuals. With stereotyped cultural images and the narrowly defined social roles of participants in the classroom, the teaching and learning process limits opportunities to actively develop the learners' communicative competence. The practice of teaching and learning thus may reinforce inflexibility in communicative negotiation and in dealing with the cultural, social, and individual diversities in the cross-cultural interactions outside the classroom. Therefore, cross-cultural openness--the awareness of sociocultural and individual diversity in cross-cultural interactions--is significant in language teaching and learning. The significance of cross-cultural openness is that it not only influences the process of language teaching and learning, but also the content of language teaching and learning.

In a small but growing number of adult literacy programs across the United States, adult beginning readers have begun to write about their lives and publish their work as individual books, newsletters and anthologies. The use of the writing process in adult literacy classrooms is part of a more general trend toward greater learner participation and has been initiated primarily at the grassroots level. Although this practice is spreading, to date no comprehensive studies of its history, nature or potential value to learners yet exist. This exploratory study begins by gathering together information about the history of writing and publishing by adult beginning readers in the U.S. and, to a lesser extent, England and Canada, based on expert interviews, a mail survey and collections of local publications. The second, central phase of the research involves a qualitative study of the experiences of authors in three literacy programs in New England. Eighteen authors were asked to describe their life histories with respect to literacy and how they had changed as a result of becoming an author. Specific indicators included: authors' purposes for writing, their audiences, their beliefs and self-concept in relationship to literacy, learning and knowledge, their beliefs about writing and how it is learned, changes in everyday literacy practices, and plans for the future. Factors which influenced these changes, including aspects of the writing context and people in the authors' lives who helped or got in the way of their literacy acquisition were also considered. Six authors' stories are presented as life history narratives. Findings indicate that authors used writing as a means to re-examine their life histories, reflect on the stigma of illiteracy, overcome internalized beliefs they are unable to learn and advise others. The writing process facilitated authors' growing ability to speak out and recognize the authority of their own knowledge. This was further validated by opportunities authorship provided for taking the role of teacher and expert. Finally, the wider implications and constraints to the entry of adult beginning readers into the public sphere are examined, along with the potential role of learners in the creation of knowledge about literacy.