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No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

This study evaluates literacy levels of education using senior high school mathematics textbooks. It uses content analysis, the latent approach and the evaluation research design, to study the costs and benefits of literacy instruction. The examination discusses demands for a literate society in the year 2000, estimates the level instruction to changes in student behavior, and correlates exposure with assessed student performance. The study specifically observes the codes and contents of mathematics textbooks adopted for use in Maryland's inner city public high school mathematics programs. It compares levels of literacy exposure in the Special Education, Regular and Honors programs. It evaluates mathematics education benefits and costs based on the students performance on functional mathematics tests; completion of minimum requirements for admission to college; and vocational certification. It compares the applicability of the mathematics to the demands of society in the year 2000.

The purpose of the study was to address the issues regarding professionalization of teachers in regional vocational-technical schools in southeastern Massachusetts. Professionalization was defined as the degree to which teachers participate in organizational decisions. The study was intended to determine the perceptions of vocational teachers, academic teachers, and administrators toward professionalization. The extent to which teachers in eight regional vocational-technical high schools were empowered was also explored. A review of the literature was incorporated into the design of the study. A survey was conducted at the eight schools. Five hundred two teachers and administrators responded (86 percent). The questionnaire measured six dimensions which included: horizontal and vertical communication, teaching behavior, leadership, centralization of influence, empowerment, and satisfaction. The findings indicate that there are many differences between the three groups with regard to the role of teachers in school decisions. Administrators tended to overestimate teacher influence. They rated nine of the fourteen areas higher than teachers. Vocational and academic teacher ratings were similar in nine of fourteen dimensions and categories. Vocational teachers rated four areas higher including teaching behavior and willingness. There is evidence of professionalization in the eight schools. Empowered schools show evidence of strong administrative influence, facilitative leadership, vertical communication and satisfied respondents.

The purpose of this study was to determine if the focus correction strategy of the Cumulative Writing Folder Program had a positive effect on students' overall writing skills and on the major writing areas of mechanics, style, content and organization. A pre and post exploratory study was used in this research with a sample of 22 grade 7 urban middle school students. The study looked for significant differences between high and low repetitions of focus correction areas (FCAs) and their effect on achievement. Writing samples were assessed with holistic and primary trait scoring. The important findings of this study are that: (1) The Cumulative Writing Folder Program works and produces significant increases in students' writing skills overall and for all variables studied: mechanics, style, content and organization (p $<$.001). It especially works as a way to focus teachers' attention on writing and as a means for teachers and administrators to provide a set of strategies that everyone can use. (2) A balance of FCAs should be used. An overemphasis on mechanics may actually decrease students' mechanical skills. (3) The frequency of FCAs may not be as important as the focusing of the correction itself. These results are all the more meaningful because they were achieved in an inner city middle school with minority students. They reinforce the notions that an atmosphere of literacy can be created, good writing can be taught, and classroom practices make a difference. Further research must be done to determine if the positive results were due to frequency of writing, consistency of approach, the management system, oral reading, or using past papers to teach new skills which are the other major components of this program, or to the atmosphere of literacy at the study school, and to find out what number of Focus Correction Area repetitions works best. Additionally a study should be done to examine which individual focus correction areas have the greatest effect on writing performance. When research responds to these issues, American schools will produce more effective writers and the teaching of writing will be close to reaching its potential.

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the perceptions of middle school principals regarding desired skills and attributes appropriate for elementary or secondary-certified teachers in middle schools. A secondary purpose was to determine trends in assignment of teachers holding various types of certification in middle schools. Data were gathered from a survey questionnaire about school grade distribution, enrollment, organization, teacher assignment by grade level and certification held, patterns of mobility in assignment, and degree of implementation of effective middle school practices. Perceptions of desired attributes for middle school teachers, adaptability of elementary and secondary-certified teachers to middle grade assignment, and factors related to certification that enhance or hinder implementation of middle school philosophy were obtained from personal interviews of principals. Results show a scarcity of teachers holding middle school certification. Although possession of a certain type of certificate was not in itself a significant indicator, principals preferred attributes typical of elementary-certified teachers when seeking staff for middle schools, perceiving them as more adaptable than secondary teachers to changes in role expectation and assignment. Among these attributes were facility with varied teaching techniques, skill at individualizing instruction, adaptability to multidisciplinary instruction, understanding of psychological and social aspects of preadolescent development, and an overall receptiveness to change. Changes in teacher assignment from elementary to middle levels occurred during the past three years in more than half the schools surveyed. Within middle schools, it was more likely that elementary-certified teachers would be assigned in upper grades than secondary-certified teachers would be assigned to lower grades. One trend reported was a decline in the proportion of secondary-certified teachers in middle schools. Some success in implementing middle school programs was attributed to the presence of middle level certified teachers on the faculty. Schools were characterized by their principals as either successful middle schools, in transition toward implementing a middle school philosophy, or secondary in operation. Practices associated with effective middle schools were reported in greater frequency among schools in transition than in schools operating as middle schools for a number of years.

A new plant cultivar, Fast Plants (Brassica rapa), originally developed for research purposes, shows great potential for improving science teaching and learning. The extremely short life cycle and petite size of the material, plus easy classroom maintenance procedures, suggest that Fast Plants may be an important vehicle for changing attitudes toward plants and plant study, and for changing classroom practice. This study has been undertaken to assess the usefulness and effectiveness of Fast Plants to middle and high school science teachers. A group of middle and high school teachers were introduced to Fast Plants at a one-day workshop. 22 of those attending volunteered to use Fast Plants in their classrooms during the subsequent school year. Although teachers were not specifically asked to continue work with Fast Plants after the first year, their use of the innovation was documented through the three years of the study. Teacher response to the material was assessed using questionnaires, interviews, and classroom observation during the three years. The final summative evaluation made at the end of the study indicates that the material was very useful in the classroom and a highly effective teaching tool. Teacher use of Fast Plants increased during the three years, with an expansion both in the numbers of classes in which the innovation was used, and in the ways the material was used. Increases in the time spent on plant study, in student use of live plant material, and in student learning as judged by their teachers were seen. The innovation had a positive effect on both students and teachers.

I suggested that some of the world's troubles may be relieved if social change is driven by activism which is informed by moral philosophy. Teachers who are social activists may illustrate a way to ground their work as both teachers and activists in reflection which provides clarification of assumptions and a moral basis for social action. They might also show a way to cope with criticism of activism as mindless or dangerous as well as criticism of moral education and controversial issues education as biased or lacking in objectivity. I interviewed six teachers of science or social studies who are social activists outside the classroom. Their concerns included feminism, environmentalism, politics, community, racism, abortion, violence, poverty, prolife and nuclear issues. I discussed with them their lives, work and thinking and found a wide range of experiences and views. Yet all their views fit in the range of views described by philosophers as teleological (consequence-based) or deontological (rule-based). They were also philosophical in their own right. I concluded that the moral basis of their activist and classroom work justified disclosure of their views to students, and sets their work as a model for the encouragement of student and citizen activism in the 'real world'.