The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of student teachers' prior school experiences on their learning to teach. Specifically, the two goals of the study were: (a) to describe student teachers' prior school experiences and, (b) to provide an intervention in the form of an opportunity to reflect on those experiences. The participants were social studies student teachers who planned to teach in the following semester. Six trainees were interviewed individually about their prior school experiences and the connections they saw with their role as a trainee. A support group was established in which the participants shared their experiences and in which specific topics were explored in greater depth. Finally, at the end of the support group meetings, the student teachers again were interviewed individually. Data were examined for indications of the influence of prior school experiences (a) on student teachers' beliefs about teaching, learning and education, and (b) on student teachers' beliefs about self worth and abilities. Within the latter category, the influence of schooling on the formation of trainees' gender identities was examined. The data provided strong support for the influence of prior school experience both on trainees' beliefs about teaching and on their beliefs about self worth. Oppression theory, including both gender relationships and the dominant/subordinate power relationship of teacher to student, was provided as a framework through which the participants could re-evaluate their school experiences. Reflecting on their earlier school experiences encouraged participants to be more conscious of the negative ways in which their development had been limited by their schooling. Post intervention interviews showed greater awareness and concern about the need to treat their own students in ways that would be fully respectful of students' identities and abilities.

Experience, buttressed by a school survey, attested to the presence of homeless children in our schools. These children evince special needs which demand attention, or we may suffer their loss from the school systems, and pay a staggering social cost, later. The problem is that their special needs cannot be met if these children are not identified as homeless, and rarely do they self-identify. The dissertation develops a screening test for the identification of the homeless children in our schools in order to treat their special needs. After a pre-test survey, the test was piloted at an inner-city school, refined, and administered as circumstances suggested. The results confirmed the existence of homeless children with special needs in the schools. An increased ability to identify these children, coupled with enhanced teacher training and curriculum development, can help retain and treat these children within the educational process--and, it is hoped, avoid the social cost.

Thirteen low-skilled sixth graders enrolled in 4 classes in 3 different schools were identified using a combination of teachers' rankings and skill test scores. The thirteen were interviewed both individually and in small groups, and were observed over two contiguous units of their physical education class. Use of the Brophy-Good Dyadic Interaction recording instrument was interspersed throughout the study. All low-skilled students experienced physical education classes as humiliating, frustrating, embarrassing, and barely tolerable. They were subjected to continuous criticism and harassment by their peers--abuse which their teachers did not challenge or act to limit. Success was largely attributed to previous experience and luck. It was rarely attributed to instruction and practice. Failure was attributed to inability or lack of effort. Students devised a number of behaviors to reduce continued failure, from announcing failure in advance, to avoiding the learning task. The professional rhetoric of "providing a positive learning environment for all" and "having fun in physical education class" must be re-examined in light of this study.

This dissertation analyzes key factors which influence the negative expectations that classroom teachers hold for certain students whom they perceive to be low achievers and whom they refer for placement in special education. An examination of bias and differentiated expectations in classrooms is conducted in two urban elementary schools and is based on the hypothesis that the children who fail are most often those who differ from their teachers in social class, ethnicity, socioeconomic level, learning style and behaviors, and gender. The first target school is identified as having a low rate (16%) of referral to special education, while the other school is identified as having a high rate (32%) of referral to special education. Twelve regular education teachers from each school complete questionnaires about their experiences with and attitudes towards low-achieving students. Each identifies successful and unsuccessful students and then describes him/herself as a learner. Student records are examined also to determine commonalties in the traits of those students referred to special education for remedial or compensatory instruction. Finally, comparisons of school philosophy and school climate are made between the two target schools. The findings of this study indicate that the misperceptions and life experiences of classroom teachers are important influences on the negative stereotyping and lowered expectations directed toward certain students. In the target schools, veteran as well as less experienced male and female teachers respond more favorably to students who resemble themselves ethnically, socioeconomically, and in learning style, and less favorably to those students who differ. Statistical significance is found when matching the learning characteristics selected by teachers to describe their successful students with learning characteristics they select when describing their own traits as learners. Of the students identified as unsuccessful and referred to special education, a disproportionate number are minority and male and are described by teachers as having problems with motivation, temperament, and need for direction. These and other reasons for referrals cited by teachers in both schools are similar and reflect poorly understood bias toward ethnic, racial, and linguistic minority children as well as misinformation about the developmental differences between boys and girls.

The educational system in Puerto Rico has been characterized by the lack of gender equity. The projects conducted in this centralized system have proposed alternatives to overcome sexism but have not considered teachers' perspectives on the problem. Recent legislation on educational reform recognized the need to involve teachers in curriculum change. The Puerto Rican Commission for Women's Affairs developed the Project on Gender Educational Equity aimed towards integrating gender equity into the curriculum through teachers' involvement in curriculum change. This study was undertaken to explore and document the experiences of the eleven female teachers who participated in the Project. Using a phenomenological approach three interviews were conducted with each participant. The background, the actual experience and the meaning of the experience for them were explored. These elementary school teachers have had experiences in which the child-rearing and schooling processes, career selection, courtship and marital relationships have contributed to the acquisition of the female roles and the construction of a view of the self as gendered persons. They struggled with the attributed roles of woman, mother, and teacher. They confronted several conflicts: rejection of feminism, need to be subtle, lack of time and resources, power of the prescribed curriculum, and subversion of the established schemes. They made a conscious effort to scrutinize the explicit and the implicit curriculum. They also developed strategies to overcome sexism. They felt a need to include men in the whole picture of equity and struggled with the concept of special efforts towards one gender. The definition of equity as equality helped to reconcile their understanding of gender oppression and the need to incorporate men in the same picture. They established a connection between the personal and the professional and felt that they are doing their work more consciously. An understanding that they need to work for equity and that they have been doing reform in their classrooms was part of their meanings. They felt that it is the responsibility of the Department of Education to work for an equitable curriculum. This study has a focus on critical issues that have implications for initiatives that involve teachers in curriculum change, research and action on gender equity, and teacher education.

What are the sources of a teacher's commitment to lifelong learning and to reflection-in-action? In order to improve the quality of teacher training and development programs, we need to reach a better understanding about what motivates a teacher to develop and sustain a commitment to her own learning as well as a capacity to apply new learning, upon reflection, into action in the classroom. Applying case study methodology, the researcher will trace the "intellectual biographies" (Shulman, 1986) of four secondary teachers of English. The case study approach provides for hypothesis-generating, qualitative investigation. This particular investigation will take many forms: (1) a series of interviews with each subject; (2) a written narrative (a guided autobiography) of each subject; (3) field site (school and classroom observations; and (4) background questionnaires and inventories. The final data gathering mode will be a group meeting to discuss the researcher's findings. Her subsequent analysis of the data must also be confirmed by the subjects themselves if it is to have any validity. The goal of the project is to understand what experiences, influences, and responses in the lives of four teachers have contributed to their on-going productive involvement in professional development. Case study findings are instructive in their descriptions. The researcher's concrete and direct efforts will be to suggest the possibilities of transferring any lessons to be learned through the study of the lives of these four teachers to the design and implementation of teacher training and professional development programs.

This study examines factors in achieving a more nurturing and secure environment for minority students at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. The study probes: (1) The existing issues and problems minority students face with on-campus police officers at the University of Massachusetts. (2) The role of higher administrators (chancellor, provost, deans) in dealing with these problems, and student and officer perceptions of the administrators' commitment toward resolving them (3) The issues higher administration will encounter while creating a better relationship between minority students and law enforcement officers. (4) The feelings, perceptions and views held by students and officers and how these may affect their communication and interactions. The researcher found mutual dissatisfaction in the relationships between minority students and on-campus police officers. Evidence of this poor relationship is seen in past incidents involving minority students and police. Through protests and other unpleasant encounters with minority students, the police have gained insight into the feelings that exist between them and students. Generally, most minority students believe that the ill feelings between the two groups have affected the quality and character of the service they receive from police. An example of this can be seen in accusations of high rates of car stoppage of minority students, in particular African-American male students. This issue is not new to college campuses, rather it is an escalating phenomenon that embraces relations between the minority community and police in society at large. Data provide administrators with a deeper insight into the issues involved. These issues include stereotyping and a lack of understanding about each other's roles. This information is critically needed, especially in light of the fact that there is no published research on this issue. This study provides first-of-a-kind information. This research involved the two groups (minority students and police officers) in sharing their perceptions and ideas. Understanding their feelings is an important aspect of this study. The researcher distinguished between feelings and theory through methodologies of data collection: (1) direct observation, (2) informal open-ended interviews, and (3) examination of University documents.

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