The primary purpose of this study was to further the understanding of how people learn to teach. The central research question focused on differences in teaching knowledge that may be associated with training and experience. Eight teachers were selected to participate in this study. They represented a wide range of teaching experience, formal training, professional certification and sport participation. The common criterion for selection was previous experience in the teaching of volleyball. Data were collected from both questionnaires and transcribed interviews which followed the viewing of a twenty-minute videotaped volleyball lesson. Results indicated differences among the participating teachers in content knowledge (the skills of playing volleyball), pedagogical knowledge (general teaching principles), and pedagogical content knowledge (content-specific teaching knowledge). The comments of trained teachers displayed a greater awareness of and concern for general teaching principles. In contrast, untrained teachers devoted most of their comments to lesson content. Experienced teachers, whether trained or untrained, demonstrated a superior understanding of the relationship between the nature of content and the needs of learners at different levels of skill development. In that regard, they had a more elaborately developed sense of pedagogical content knowledge. Untrained teachers cited their experience as students and athletes as major sources of information about teaching, while trained teachers pointed to experiences associated with their formal training. Members from both group indicated that they had learned from role models and early teaching experiences. Among trained and untrained teachers the sources for the differences in knowledge, and how that knowledge was processed, included the following: varied teaching contexts such as public high schools and university classes, the extent of teaching experience which ranged from one to eighteen years, and views about teaching that were influenced by previous experience in either coaching or teaching roles. Implications for teacher education and staff development include a need for training experiences that will integrate various forms of teaching knowledge. In addition, it is clear that teacher preparation programs must deal much more explicitly with the differences between coaching and teaching contexts.

Against a backdrop of pressure for change in teacher education (Carnegie Forum, 1986; Holmes Group Report, 1986; United Kingdom White Paper, 1983) Feiman-Nemser and Floden (1986) produced a comprehensive review of research in the area of teacher education. Amongst other issues, they identified three broad areas of teacher development--"A model of changes in teacher concerns, a model based on cognitive-developmental theories, and a style of inservice education emphasizing teachers' own perceptions of their needs." (Feiman-Nemser and Floden, 1986, p.522). Since the first two approaches seemed to possess some common characteristics in that Fuller's (1969) stages of teacher concern were similar to cognitive-developmental stages, it was decided to try to establish whether there was any relationship between cognitive-developmental stage level, and the levels of concern expressed by teachers. As this study was regarded as an initial exploration of the topic, and as empirical studies in the area had produced confusing results, it was seen as an appropriate project for a qualitative approach to research. Accordingly, two groups of volunteers (12 experienced teachers from a Massachusetts elementary school, and 10 education seniors from the School of Education, University of Massachusetts, Amherst) were administered David Hunt's (1978) Paragraph Completion Method (PCM) and George's (1978) Teacher Concerns Questionnaire (TCQ). On the basis of Conceptual Level scores, four students and four teachers were chosen for follow-up interviews, and the interview data collated and analyzed. The results of this analysis showed that cognitive-developmental level does affect the profiles of concerns of teachers, and it can be inferred from the study that it also affects the patterns of change of teachers' concerns. The results also cast some doubt on the validity of the TCQ instrument.

This study documented the processes for introducing varied instructional styles of teachers in effective use of academic learning time with at-risk youth in an urban junior high school and how these youth perceived teachers. Staff development for academic achievement depends critically on implementation procedures and their involvement of teachers (and students) in ways that respect their intentions and competencies. Thus, a focus on cooperation among teachers, administrators, support staff members, and parents shaped the design and implementation of school improvement efforts. Staff development lead teachers and supervisors of teachers to examine classroom processes and teaching styles that related to performance of at-risk students. The hypothesis: Varied instructional styles in the effective use of academic learning time impacts positively on the performance of at-risk students has been shown in many studies. This research showed a gain in attitudes among students and teachers. At-risk students responded positively to classroom instruction where teachers reorganized and adjusted teaching to maximize student learning. The major question of this study was, can teachers in urban junior high schools be motivated to work with at-risk youth, and if so, how? This research showed that teachers can be motivated to work with at-risk students. Staff development caused changes in the instructional delivery of teachers. A very positive relationship developed between teachers and students. Teachers became concerned about the welfare of these youths beyond that which was happening academically in the classroom. Overall, the project demonstrated that low cost staff development is possible in urban schools when: (1) Teachers are allowed to use research and apply it in their own way; (2) Teachers, administrators, students, and parents work cooperatively together; and, (3) Teachers realize that all children can learn.

This study documented the process of creating, executing, and assessing, a cost-effective, school based, researcher conducted staff development program which included one African American seventh grade social studies faculty member, one European American tenth grade faculty member, and one European American Chapter I reading teacher, at Roosevelt Junior Senior High School, Roosevelt, New York, during the 1989-1990 school year. The objective was to obtain more information about increasing school effectiveness in low income school districts. Staff development efforts were aimed at broadening faculty members' preparedness in developing reading instruction strategies used in the content area of social studies, which conform more concisely with urban African American students' range of reading levels in three homogeneously grouped classes. The goals of (a) improving students' academic performance, (b) attending to individual needs, and (c) providing the tools needed to control learning, are addressed. Five collaboratively designed staff development workshops on developmental reading instruction strategies in the social studies content area enabled members of the faculty to: (a) reevaluate perceptions of teaching reading in the social studies classroom, (b) develop the techniques needed to enable students to independently evaluate the many types of printed material, and, (c) professionally incorporate a concern for teaching the "what" of content, and how the student may obtain the content. Informal and formal discussions, realization of self-concepts, interests, attitudes, completion of evaluations, diagnosis and prescription, conferencing, and observations, led the researcher to the determination that members of the faculty: (a) developed a unified strategy for teaching students how to read their social studies texts with fluency and efficiency, (b) collaboratively planned lessons stressing reading skills without loss of social studies content, (c) realized that content was naturally acquired as a result of improved reading skills, (d) regarded the process of reading as a necessary component in the curriculum, a skill that opens the door to higher level thinking, and, (e) viewed reading not as an isolated skill but rather as a means of enhancing and enriching the social studies curriculum. The students in this study: (a) demonstrated improved reading skills, for example, increased levels of comprehension, (b) learned how their textbook was organized and how to make the best use of all its parts, (c) increased their vocabulary, (d) obtained a better idea of their own interests in social studies, and, (e) acquired techniques to improve study skills which included taking notes and studying for and taking tests. Indications of increased school effectiveness imply that staff development is practical in low income school districts where there is evidence of a corroborative Board of Education, administrative team, faculty, and curriculum and instructional designers.

This study reported on a teacher training project designed by the District of Columbia Public Schools (D.C.P.S.) to develop a cadre of exemplary teachers from an indigenous population of D.C.P.S. graduates and outstanding educational aides. The context of the study reported on university collaboration with the public school system to improve its teacher training program and described the Systematic Teacher Preparation Program (STPP) based on the perceptions of the teacher trainee toward the program. Data for the study were collected through two basic tools of qualitative research: interviews and document analysis. The case study subjects were students who were elementary and secondary majors in the teacher education program at the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) and were participants in the STPP. Case study subjects were randomly selected from first, second, third and fourth year elementary and secondary STPP participants. The sample group consisted of fifteen STPP students. The design for the study was a single case study action research format. A one hour interview was conducted with each subject based on a general interview guide with an open-ended format. The researcher concentrated on the subject's reason for selecting education as a major, the supports that sustained the subject in the program, and the subject's work experience in education. The subject was asked to reflect on what teacher training experiences meant to him or her. The impact of the practicum experience over a four year period compared to a twelve week traditional student teaching period was explored. The findings and conclusions of this study revealed that teacher trainees: (1) selected education as a major because of a desire to work with young people, (2) were influenced by a family member to major in education, (3) sustained an interest in education through the STPP staff, the clinical experience, and local school faculty, (4) needed increased involvement of program monitors, (5) were satisfied with STPP, (6) performed excessive non-instructional activities, and (7) were taught a traditional teacher education program at UDC.

Understanding the ways of working and interacting among teachers within the culture of the school continues to be incomplete. Women comprise over 80% of elementary teachers yet there has been scant acknowledgement that gender may be a contributing factor to our knowledge of this aspect of school culture. This study, in two parts, employed ethnographic research methodology that values the emic (insiders) perspective to examine the form and content of teacher collegiality in elementary and middle school settings in an urban area of a north eastern state. It involved an exploration and application of the insights and theoretical assumptions from the scholarship on women to examine the ways gender influences teachers' construction, maintainence and utilization of collegial relationships. This study found women teachers involved in an interpersonal social and cultural setting. Their relationships were based upon the expression of the caring relationship which offered informally constructed professional and personal support systems in the face of the contradictions, constraints, dilemmas and frustrations of practice. The study presents a theoretical model that posits a definition of collegiality among teachers as a process which moves teachers from a naive orientation towards interdependence to a more fully conscious interdependence. At the highest phase more fully conscious interdependence involves self-directed participation in joint enterprise around the tasks of teaching and the work of the school and commitment to community building. It includes engagement in activities of interpersonal and connected knowing. Nurturance, as an expression of the caring relationship, is demonstrated through the willingness to engage in dialogue and narrative. It is identified as the dynamic that facilitates the process of collegiality from naive to conscious interdependence. The study suggests that culture of collegiality constructed by the social and psychological orientations of the women teachers is an important part of our knowledge school culture. It recommends that the issue of gender becomes a seriously considered explicit element in the structuring of schools and the reconceptualization of teacher development programs, placing greater value on the activities of the caring relationship as essential and necessary preconditions to the realization of interdependence and the engagement in joint enterprise.

Many new secondary teachers will begin their careers in urban schools because so many vacancies exist there. Because secondary urban teacher education programs are virtually extinct, many teachers will be unprepared to work in the urban classroom. Cooperating teachers may not be familiar with a wide variety of methods for managing urban classrooms. College/university supervisors, while some may be familiar with current research on urban teaching, do not usually spend enough time with student teachers. Full teaching loads also preclude both from devoting adequate time to student teachers. Urban student teachers may be left on their own. Many urban student teachers become frustrated and quit, or survive long enough to finish their practica, but do not seek employment in urban schools. Alternative methods must be found to prepare urban student teachers.

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